Leslie R. Hoffman (Leslie Hoffman Price)
How Judge Hoffman rules, drawn from 52 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Hoffman
Leslie Hoffman Price has served as a United States Magistrate Judge in the Orlando Division of the Middle District of Florida since March 2019. She earned her law degree from the University of Florida, clerked for District Judge William Terrell Hodges, and later worked in the district court’s Clerk’s Office.
Judge Hoffman's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Hoffman, as published on the court's website (checked October 8, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Discovery
After an unsuccessful in-person or telephone conference, file a short-form discovery motion of no more than 500 words; responses have the same limit.
“Neither the Motion nor any response thereto shall exceed 500 words, exclusive of caption, signature block, and certifications.”
Discovery
Attach the discovery requests and responses to a short-form discovery motion.
“The Movant must attach any discovery requests and discovery responses.”
Discovery
Respond to a short-form discovery motion within five days or it will be treated as unopposed.
“a failure to file a timely response will result in the Motion being deemed unopposed.”
Discovery
If a discovery hearing is set, file a joint notice two days before it describing ongoing conferral and resolved issues.
“the litigants shall file a joint notice two days before the hearing certifying ongoing conferral and stating which issues, if any, have been resolved.”
Discovery
Serve a privilege log with the discovery response when withholding material on privilege grounds.
“The privilege log shall be served simultaneously with the response to written discovery requests in which the information, communications, or documents are withheld on the basis of privilege.”
Discovery
Do not send privileged documents for in-camera review unless the court orders submission.
“No party may submit documents for the Court’s in camera review, unless the Court issues a subsequent order requesting such submissions.”
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 Hoffman decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Smith, Hoffman reversed and remanded a disability denial because the ALJ’s handling of treating physician Dr. Biggs’s opinion was dispositive of the appeal.
“the ALJ’s handling of Dr. Bigg’s opinion is dispositive of this appeal.”
Procedural preferences
In the reviewed wage-and-hour settlement, Judge Hoffman approved the agreements after confirming that the employees received full payment, the agreements contained no problematic terms, and counsel fees were negotiated separately.
“Upon review, Defendant has agreed to pay Plaintiffs in full for their FLSA wage claims.”
In the reviewed discovery dispute, broad references to hundreds of pages did not satisfy Rule 33(d) where the documents did not contain complete answers, were partly illegible, and did not identify where responsive information could be found.
“The Court further finds that Defendants have failed to satisfy their burden to justify the use of Rule 33(d) in responding to the Interrogatories at issue.”
An unopposed request for Social Security attorney fees still needed proof of the total past-due benefits and a calculation that reconciled the claimed award with the agency notice; the judge permitted a renewed motion once that evidence was supplied.
“Further, Plaintiff otherwise fails to explain how the amount of past-due benefits was calculated in the motion, such that it supports the request for $5,329.50 in fees under § 406(b).”
In Brown, Price allowed a pro se plaintiff one final amended complaint before the deadline but required him to remove abandoned conspiracy counts and add no new claims or parties. The resulting new pleading mooted two pending dismissal motions.
“Upon consideration, the Court finds that providing Plaintiff with one final opportunity to amend is appropriate.”
In Orlando Torah Center, Price ordered a second corporate representative deposition after the county withheld a witness on some noticed topics and directed a witness not to answer on others. She assigned the county the deposition costs.
“Defendant’s conduct at the August 31, 2026 deposition was inconsistent with the requirements of Rule 30”
Cautions
A reviewed wage-and-hour settlement was rejected where the release swept beyond the pleaded wage claims, extended to nonparties, and the parties had not made a court-ordered disclosure.
“Here, the release clearly is not.”
In Taiba Holdings, the court denied default judgment without prejudice where the complaint and motion omitted a showing of personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant.
“But the operative complaint does not allege or address personal jurisdiction over Defendant.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Upon review of the record, the Court finds the Commissioner's final decision is due to be AFFIRMED.”
“Upon review of the record, the Court finds that the Commissioner's final decision is due to be AFFIRMED.”
“MEMORANDUM OF DECISION. The final decision of the Commissioner is AFFIRMED. The Clerk is directed to enter judgment for the Commissioner and close the case.”
“Upon review of the record, the Court finds that the Commissioner’s final decision is due to be REVERSED and REMANDED for further proceedings.”
“MEMORANDUM OF DECISION. The final decision of the Commissioner is REVERSED and REMANDED for further proceedings pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. Section 405(g). The Clerk is directed to enter judgment for the Claimant and close the case.”
“MEMORANDUM OF DECISION. The final decision of the Commissioner is REVERSED and REMANDED for further administrative proceedings pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. Section 405(g). The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to enter judgment in favor of Claimant and against the Commissioner and CLOSE the case.”
“MEMORANDUM OF DECISION. The Commissioner's final decision is AFFIRMED. The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to enter judgment in favor of the Commissioner, and thereafter, to CLOSE the case.”
“MEMORANDUM OF DECISION. The final decision of the Commissioner is AFFIRMED. The Clerk is directed to enter judgment for the Commissioner and close the case.”
“MEMORANDUM OF DECISION. The final decision of the Commissioner is AFFIRMED. The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to enter judgment in favor of the Commissioner and CLOSE the case.”
“ORDER granting 32 Joint Motion and Memorandum of Law in Support of Request for Approval of Settlement. This matter is DISMISSED with prejudice and the Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to close the case.”
“ORDER granting in part and denying in part 35 Motion for Attorney's Fees and Costs. Plaintiff is awarded a total of $25,130.00 in attorney's fees under the FLSA. Plaintiff is further awarded a total of $1,442.00 in recoverable costs. The motion (Doc. No. 35) is DENIED in all other respects.”
“ORDER Setting Conditions of Release, denying as moot 7 Ore Tenus Motion for Detention as to Rene Rodriguez-Betancourt (1).”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- More than half of the reviewed matters are consent Social Security disability appeals.
- The remainder includes referred wage, insurance, contract, personal-injury, and civil-rights cases, along with criminal initial appearances and detention determinations.
- Most Social Security appeals in the 2019-2022 group took 12 to 18 months from filing to a merits decision, while several contested civil cases assigned to her by consent settled before a dispositive motion was decided.
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 Hoffman: 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).
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