Maritza Dominguez Braswell
How Judge Braswell rules, drawn from 9 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Braswell
Maritza Dominguez Braswell serves as a United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Colorado. Her chambers are in Colorado Springs, and the court publishes her pretrial and trial procedures.
Judge Braswell's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Braswell, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Motions
Unless the court sets a different schedule, file motions in limine ten days before the final pretrial conference; responses are due three days before it.
“all motions in limine shall be filed via CM/ECF no later than ten (10) days in advance of the Final Pretrial Conference (FPTC), with responses due three (3) days before the FPTC deadline.”
Motions
Absent leave, motions in limine are limited to five pages, responses to three, and no reply is permitted.
“Absent leave of Court, each motion shall be limited to five (5) pages, and the response limited to three (3) pages. No replies are permitted.”
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 Braswell decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Ward v. Altizer, she recommended granting an early exhaustion-based summary-judgment motion as to the prisoner’s failure-to-protect and excessive-force claim, while denying it as to his deliberate-indifference claim.
“The Motion be granted to the extent it seeks dismissal of Plaintiff’s failure to protect/excessive force claim, and Defendants Altizer, Azzez, Starr, Green, Hoffarth, Troutman, Neal, and Kreisman be dismissed from this action.”
Procedural preferences
In Nesmith v. Morse, Dominguez Braswell recommended denying default judgment and dismissing the action without prejudice because the plaintiff had not served the defendant as Rule 4 required.
“this action be dismissed without prejudice for Plaintiff’s failure to serve Defendant pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 4.”
Cautions
In this case, Braswell combined a recommendation on dismissal with orders resolving several ancillary motions.
“Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss (Doc. No. 76) be GRANTED and that this case be DISMISSED.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss (Doc. No. 76) be GRANTED and that this case be DISMISSED.”
“The Motion be denied to the extent it seeks dismissal of Plaintiff’s deliberate indifference claim. • The Motion be granted to the extent it seeks dismissal of Plaintiff’s failure to protect/excessive force claim, and Defendants Altizer, Azzez, Starr, Green, Hoffarth, Troutman, Neal, and Kreisman be dismissed from this action.”
“The Court further RECOMMENDS Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment Based on the Defendants Committing Perjury Under Oath (Doc. No. 110) be DENIED without prejudice.”
“Plaintiff’s Motion Requesting Default Judgment (Doc. No. 59) be DENIED.”
“the Motion for Reconsideration is DENIED.”
“ORDER it is ORDERED that the Application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 (ECF No. 1 ) is GRANTED. It is further ORDERED that Petitioner shall be released from custody within 24 hours of this Order. It is furtherORDERED that Respondents may impose on Petitioner reasonable conditions of release or supervision.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the Court RECOMMENDS the Plaintiffs’ Motion for Default Judgment (as to Defendant John Matheny Only). (Doc. No. 72) be GRANTED.”
“2241 (ECF No. 1) is DENIED, and this action is DISMISSED without prejudice.”
“the Barnes Motion (Doc. No. 140) and Wellpath Motion (Doc. No. 148) be DENIED.”
“Motion for Default Final Judgment (Doc. No. 42) be DENIED without prejudice.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The directly assigned cases are almost entirely pending 2026 filings, so no terminated-case duration distribution is available. Her broader work also includes referral matters and terminated consent cases not represented in this caseload snapshot.
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 | 2 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 4 |
| Mar 2024 | 3 | 2 |
| Sep 2023 | 1 | 3 |
| Mar 2023 | 1 | 1 |
| Sep 2022 | 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 Braswell: 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).
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Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Braswell, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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