Victor A. Bolden
How Judge Bolden rules, drawn from 29 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Bolden
Victor Allen Bolden is a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Judge Bolden received a commission on November 21, 2014.
Judge Bolden's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Bolden, 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
Filing
No courtesy copies are required for electronically filed documents.
“Counsel are not required to submit courtesy copies of any e-filed document.”
Motions
File formal motions in place of unsolicited letter briefs.
“Unless requested by Judge Bolden, letter briefs should not be filed. A formal motion instead should be filed, if necessary.”
Discovery
Discuss a discovery motion with Judge Bolden before filing it.
“Motions to resolve discovery disputes cannot be filed unless first discussed with Judge Bolden.”
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 Bolden decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Wine’s prison case, he denied the defendants’ summary-judgment motion.
“For the foregoing reasons, Defendants' motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”
Procedural preferences
In Milford Christian Church’s case, he granted leave to amend the complaint and case caption.
“For the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs' motion for leave to file an Amended Complaint and to amend the case caption.”
In a removed union dispute, required the parties to supply the governing documents and identify provisions requiring interpretation before deciding whether federal jurisdiction existed. The dismissal motion could be renewed after that threshold question.
“The Local 326 Bylaws, the Council’s bylaws, and the UBC Constitution upon which Defendants rely, however, have not been submitted to the Court.”
Cautions
In Cleary v. Grossman, he dismissed a pro se challenge arising from state family-court proceedings with prejudice and denied leave to amend because the jurisdictional defect could not be cured.
“For the foregoing reasons, Defendants' motions to dismiss are GRANTED with prejudice.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the foregoing reasons, Defendants' motions to dismiss are GRANTED with prejudice.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the Defendants' motion for summary judgment is GRANTED in part, and DENIED in part. The hostile work environment claim is dismissed, but the Title VII disparate impact claim against DMHAS, and the Section 1983 claim against Ms. Hyatt will proceed to trial.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Defendants' motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs' motion for leave to file an Amended Complaint and to amend the case caption.”
“The Defendants' motion to strike [ECF No. 33] is GRANTED as to the request to strike all allegations relating to claims and defendants dismissed on initial review and DENIED as to the request for more definite statement.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Defendants' motion for summary judgment DENIED.”
“For the reasons stated below, the motion for summary judgment is GRANTED.”
“motion to dismiss, ECF No. 27, is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part”
“motion to dismiss, ECF No. 19, is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part”
“second motion for summary judgment is GRANTED”
“motion for summary judgment is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part”
“motion for summary judgment is DENIED”
“the claims against Nurses Scott and Stork must be dismissed with prejudice under Rule 37(b)(2)(A)(v)”
“summary judgment will enter in favor of Nurses Ostheimer and Jackson”
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 | 8 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 8 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 10 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 9 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 8 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 14 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 8 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 13 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 10 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 10 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 18 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 15 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 14 |
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 U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, not for Judge Bolden: 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 | 1,471 | 6.9 months |
| Closed with no court action | 227 | 3 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 833 | 5.6 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 401 | 13.8 months |
| Closed during trial | 10 | 36.4 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 1,471 | 6.9 months |
| Sep 2024 | 1,501 | 8.1 months |
| Sep 2023 | 1,468 | 8.4 months |
| Sep 2022 | 1,598 | 9 months |
| Sep 2021 | 1,456 | 8.9 months |
| Sep 2020 | 1,683 | 9.2 months |
| Sep 2019 | 1,877 | 9.2 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 Bolden with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Bolden, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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