James M. Candelaria
How Judge Candelaria rules, drawn from 4 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Candelaria
James M. Candelaria has served as a part-time United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Colorado in Durango since January 2019. The district court reappointed him to a third four-year term effective January 1, 2027.
Judge Candelaria's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Candelaria's own (checked October 9, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
Standing orders for every case in this court
Orders the court applies to all of its cases, whichever judge has them, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026).
How Judge Candelaria decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
On a referred suppression motion he issues a split recommendation after a hearing, recommending suppression of statements in part while denying suppression of a vehicle search.
“the Court RECOMMENDS Defendant's Motion to Suppress Statements ... be DENIED IN PART and GRANTED IN PART”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the Court RECOMMENDS Defendant's Motion to Suppress Statements ... be DENIED IN PART and GRANTED IN PART”
“Defendant's Motion to Suppress Illegal Search of Vehicle ... be DENIED in its entirety”
“The Defendant's unopposed motion to exclude an additional 90 days from the requirements of the Speedy Trial Act [ECF No. 19) is GRANTED”
“The Defendant's unopposed motion to exclude an additional 90 days from the requirements of the Speedy Trial Act [ECF No. 42) is GRANTED”
“the Government's Motion to Restrict Document [ECF #20] is GRANTED”
Pending matters in the official report
Reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts under the Civil Justice Reform Act, as of March 31, 2026.
| Motions pending more than six months | 0 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 0 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 0 |
A snapshot on that date: matters listed may since have been decided or reassigned. A motion referred to a magistrate judge is counted for both judges. Motions in multidistrict litigation, section 2255 cases and Social Security appeals are not counted, and a very large three-year count is generally a multidistrict docket. Source: Appendix A of the report (PDF); about the report.
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of United States District Court for the District of Colorado, not for Judge Candelaria: median time from filing to disposition of the civil cases the court closed in the 12 months ending September 30, 2025, as reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
| Cases | Median time | |
|---|---|---|
| All civil cases closed | 2,669 | 7.7 months |
| Closed with no court action | 497 | 7.6 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 2,076 | 7.2 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 63 | 26.2 months |
| Closed during trial | 33 | 39.3 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 2,669 | 7.7 months |
| Sep 2024 | 2,704 | 7.4 months |
| Sep 2023 | 2,560 | 8.5 months |
| Sep 2022 | 2,614 | 9 months |
| Sep 2021 | 2,637 | 8.1 months |
| Sep 2020 | 2,637 | 7.6 months |
| Sep 2019 | 2,577 | 7.5 months |
The table leaves out prisoner petitions, land condemnations, deportation reviews, recovery of overpayments and enforcement of judgments, and reports no median for fewer than 10 cases. A district that closed a large multidistrict litigation in the period shows very large counts and long medians for that year. Source: Table C-5, U.S. District Courts (spreadsheet).
Draft for Judge Candelaria with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Candelaria, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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