Holly B. Fitzsimmons
How Judge Fitzsimmons rules, drawn from 13 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Fitzsimmons no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Fitzsimmons
Holly B. Fitzsimmons served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Connecticut from June 1993 to April 2015 and then served on recall. Before her appointment, she was an Assistant United States Attorney for the district and an associate at Robinson & Cole.
How Judge Fitzsimmons decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Fitzsimmons denied preliminary relief when the movants did not establish irreparable harm.
“plaintiffs have not provided sufficient evidence to support a finding of irreparable harm”
She construed privilege ambiguities against the party asserting the privilege.
“Any ambiguities as to whether the essential elements [of the attorney-client privilege] have been met are construed against the party asserting the privilege.”
Procedural preferences
Fitzsimmons required counsel to confer before filing further discovery motions.
“the plaintiff will schedule a discovery conference before filing any future discovery motions.”
She used supplemental expert reports and additional deposition time to cure disclosure deficiencies.
“supplemental reports and additional time to depose expert witnesses”
Cautions
Fitzsimmons enforced the local good-faith-conference requirement before considering discovery sanctions.
“This rule serves an important purpose, namely to conserve the scarce resources of the Court and to encourage counsel to engage in a good faith effort to eliminate or reduce areas of controversy”
She refused to shift electronic-production costs where the requested waiver was unsupported.
“Plaintiffs Motion for Waiver of IT Costs [Doc. # 103] is DENIED.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Plaintiffs’ Motions for Sanctions and to Compel [Doc. #18, 24] are DENIED for failure to comply with D. Conn. L. Civ. R. 9(d)(2).”
“the court approves defendant’s use of the redacted report. A protective order shall enter with respect to the redacted information.”
“defendant’s motion for protective order [Doc. # 71] is DENIED.”
“the motion to quash [Doc.# 46] is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part”
“the motion to compel [Doc. #64] is also GRANTED in part and DENIED in part”
“Plaintiffs Motion for Waiver of IT Costs [Doc. # 103] is DENIED.”
“Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction [Doc. # 103], is DENIED.”
“plaintiffs motions for attorneys’ fees are GRANTED in the amount of $87,392.50. [Doc. # 72, 80].”
“plaintiffs’ Motion for Permission to Disclose New Expert Witnesses is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part”
“plaintiffs Motion in Limine is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. [Doc. # 21.]”
“defendants’ Motion to approve a proposed supersedeas bond [Doc. #564] is DENIED.”
“the defendants’ Emergency Supplemental Motion for stay of execution of judgment [Doc. # 572] is DENIED.”
“The Motion for expedited ruling on motion for approval of supersedeas bond [Doc. #573] is GRANTED in accordance with this ruling and order.”
“the Motion for leave [Doc. # 570] is GRANTED.”
“defendants’ motion to reconsider [Doc. #20] is DENIED.”
“defendant’s motion to compel [doc # 33] is denied”
“defendant’s motion to compel [doc # 29] is granted in part and denied in part.”
“Plaintiffs’ Application for a Prejudgment Remedy [Doc. # 29] is therefore GRANTED in the amount of $97,000.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 895 days (N = 6).
The six randomly sampled terminated matters include two employment civil-rights cases and one each involving consumer credit, employee benefits, personal injury, and motor-vehicle injury.
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.
A historical record
Judge Fitzsimmons 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.