David Allan Baker
How Judge Baker rules, drawn from 2 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Baker
David A. Baker was appointed a United States Magistrate Judge in the Orlando Division of the Middle District of Florida in December 1991 and later served on recall. He previously clerked for a federal district judge, practiced at Foley & Lardner, and taught legal studies at the University of Central Florida.
Judge Baker's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Baker's own (checked October 8, 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 10, 2026).
How Judge Baker decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Power v. Commissioner of Social Security, Baker affirmed the denial of benefits after finding substantial evidence and no reversible legal error. He rejected the claimant’s attempt to have the court reassess the administrative facts and credibility findings.
“Where the Commissioner’s decision is supported by substantial evidence, the District Court will affirm, even if the reviewer would have reached a contrary result as finder of fact, and even if the reviewer finds that the evidence preponderates against the Commissioner’s decision.”
Under the post-2017 regulations (20 C.F.R. 416.920c) the treating-physician rule is gone; medical opinions are judged on supportability and consistency, which are the two most important factors. An ALJ may permissibly discount even a treating source whose extreme limitations are unsupported by that source's own exam findings or by a limited treatment history.
“Supportability and consistency constitute the most important factors in any evaluation of a medical opinion, and the ALJ must explain the consideration of those two factors.”
A treating physician's bare conclusion that the claimant cannot work carries no weight under the regulations, and the ALJ need not analyze it; in Salata he upheld discounting a treating physician seen only three times whose opinion was inconsistent with her own exam.
“The ALJ found Dr. Brouillette's opinion 'unpersuasive, since Dr. Brouillette appears to have a very limited history of treating the claimant, as Dr. Brouillette only saw the claimant three times.'”
Procedural preferences
In Power v. Commissioner of Social Security, he found that any error in omitting environmental limitations from the claimant's RFC would not alter the finding that she could perform other work in the national economy. He affirmed the Commissioner's decision.
“The ALJ's error, if any, in failing to include such environmental limitations in the RFC assessment thus would not change the ALJ's finding that Claimant could perform other work in the national economy.”
In Butts v. Lincoln National Life Insurance Co., Baker granted an unopposed request to extend the answer deadline by endorsed order on February 8, 2016, three days after the motion was filed.
“ENDORSED ORDER granting 6 Motion for Extension of Time to Answer or respond. ... Signed by Magistrate Judge David A. Baker on 2/8/2016.”
Cautions
In Power v. Commissioner of Social Security, the claimant’s challenge failed because it asked the court to revisit factual and credibility determinations. Baker affirmed the administrative decision after finding that the ALJ had applied the proper legal standards and substantial evidence supported the result.
“In short, Claimant essentially requests the Court to decide the facts anew, make credibility determinations, and reweigh the evidence, which the Court may not do.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Because Claimant did not demonstrate reversible error by the ALJ, the final decision of the Commissioner is AFFIRMED.”
“Because substantial evidence supports the decision of the ALJ, who applied the correct legal standards in this case, the Court affirms the Commissioner's final decision.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 189.5 days (N = 4).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 115 days (N = 3).
- The 2022-2025 sample is dominated by criminal-duty matters such as complaints and initial appearances, which usually terminate within days and do not produce merits-motion rulings.
- The civil portion includes occasional consent Social Security appeals, removal and remand disputes, wage cases, and consumer matters.
- Earlier civil referrals often involved routine pretrial motions in cases that later resolved through mediation.
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 Middle District of Florida, not for Judge Baker: 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 | 6,896 | 5.5 months |
| Closed with no court action | 49 | 3.5 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 6,492 | 5.2 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 319 | 14.7 months |
| Closed during trial | 36 | 24.2 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 6,896 | 5.5 months |
| Sep 2024 | 7,115 | 5.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 6,777 | 5.5 months |
| Sep 2022 | 6,781 | 6.7 months |
| Sep 2021 | 6,749 | 6.2 months |
| Sep 2020 | 6,392 | 6.2 months |
| Sep 2019 | 6,830 | 5.7 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 Baker with the record in hand
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