Kathleen M. Tafoya
Court record, service history and public docket data for Judge Tafoya.
Judge Tafoya no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Tafoya
Kathleen M. Tafoya served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Colorado from 2007 until her retirement in January 2022. Before joining the court, she spent about seventeen years as an Assistant United States Attorney in Colorado.
How Judge Tafoya decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Griess v. Reams, she recommended dismissing the prisoner's injunction-only claims without prejudice because his release from the jail mooted them.
“Magistrate Judge Tafoya concludes that the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the instant action because Plaintiff is no longer incarcerated at the Weld County Jail.”
Holds that a plaintiff may not effectively amend a complaint by raising new facts or theories in a brief opposing a motion to dismiss: the operative pleading governs.
“Plaintiff may not effectively amend his complaint by alleging new facts in his response to a motion to dismiss.”
Procedural preferences
In SEC v. Coddington, she recommended denying a dismissal motion, and the district judge adopted her recommendation after finding no clear error.
“Magistrate Judge Tafoya's thorough and comprehensive analyses and recommendations are correct and that there is no clear error on the face of the record.”
Cautions
Her recommendations are not rubber-stamped: in the Beltran au pair class action the district judge, on de novo review after objections, expressly accepted the recommendation in part and rejected it in part (declining to adopt the Colorado wage-claim conclusion); in Lucero the district judge reached the same grant but on different reasoning.
“the Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge Kathleen Tafoya (Doc. # 240) is ACCEPTED IN PART AND REJECTED IN PART”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“FURTHER ORDERED that Defendants' Motion to Dismiss Complaint (Doc. # 54) is DENIED.”
“Defendants Cullyford's, Massenburg's, and Blatnick's Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 24) is DENIED”
“Magistrate Judge Kathleen M. Tafoya recommends that Defendant Steven Reams and Duane Duran's Motion to Dismiss ... be granted and this case be dismissed without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. ... the Court ... AFFIRMED and ADOPTED ... this action is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.”
“Defendants' Motions to Dismiss (Doc. ## 127, 130, 131, and 136) are GRANTED IN PART (with respect to Plaintiffs' claim under the Utah Minimum Wage Act and Plaintiffs' claim for breach of contract), denied without prejudice with respect to the Colorado wage claim, and denied as to the remainder.”
“The Magistrate Judge's July 20, 2018 Recommendation (ECF NO. 50) is ADOPTED as modified herein; ... Defendants' Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 14) is GRANTED; Plaintiff's Amended Complaint (ECF No. 5) is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE as to his Section 1983 cause of action and otherwise DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE for lack of subject matter jurisdiction”
Pending matters in the official report
Judge Tafoya was last listed in the Civil Justice Reform Act report as of September 30, 2022.
| Motions pending more than six months | 1 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2022 | 1 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 2 |
| 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.
A historical record
Judge Tafoya no longer sits on this court. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.