Nathan W. Hill
How Judge Hill rules, drawn from 6 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Hill
Nathan W. Hill has served as a United States Magistrate Judge in the Orlando Division of the Middle District of Florida since June 2025. He earned his law degree from Florida State University, clerked for District Judge Gregory A. Presnell, and previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney.
Judge Hill's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Hill, 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 Hill decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
In Kellom v. Centurion of Florida, his discovery order required good-faith conferral and capped short-form discovery motions and responses at 500 words, with an unanswered motion deemed unopposed.
“a litigant may seek court intervention, but must do so by filing a Short-Form Discovery Motion in compliance with this Order. Neither the Motion nor any response thereto shall exceed 500 words ... a failure to file a timely response will result in the Motion being deemed unopposed.”
In Scamnetic v. BlackCloak, he denied a motion to seal without prejudice because it did not comply with Middle District of Florida Local Rule 3.01(g)'s conferral requirement.
“ENDORSED ORDER denying without prejudice for failure to comply with Local Rule 3.01(g) 28 Motion to seal”
Cautions
In Scamnetic, Hill heard several discovery disputes on November 20, 2025, then granted in part and denied in part two motions to compel and a sanctions motion.
“granting in part and denying in part 67 Motion to Compel ... granting in part and denying in part 71 Motion for Sanctions ... granting in part and denying in part 75 Motion to Compel”
In Venable, Hill denied two successive in forma pauperis motions without prejudice, set deadlines to amend or pay the fee, and granted the third motion.
“ORDER denying without prejudice 2 Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis. Plaintiff must either pay the filing fee or file an amended motion by July 22, 2025.”
In Guele’s Social Security case, he reduced an unopposed fee request by excluding clerical paralegal entries, including file setup and tracking work.
“Most of the billable entries for the paralegals here appear to be non-compensable clerical work”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“ORDER granting 10 Motion to Dismiss; adopting 22 Report and Recommendations. The 1 Complaint is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE. Plaintiff is GRANTED leave to file an amended complaint on or before January 28, 2026.”
Judge Hill's standard order at the start of referred civil cases rules on no pending motion but establishes his discovery-dispute procedure. Counsel must confer in good faith before seeking court intervention, and any remaining dispute must be raised in a short-form motion capped at 500 words, with a five-day response deadline; a non-response is deemed unopposed.
“ENDORSED ORDER denying without prejudice for failure to comply with Local Rule 3.01(g) 28 Motion to seal (This document is sealed and only available to the Court). Signed by Magistrate Judge Nathan W. Hill on 7/21/2025.”
“ORDER denying without prejudice 61 Motion for Protective Order, granting in part and denying in part 67 Motion to Compel, granting in part and denying in part 71 Motion for Sanctions, granting in part and denying in part 75 Motion to Compel, and granting 88 Motion to Compel. Signed by Magistrate Judge Nathan W. Hill on 11/24/2025.”
“ENDORSED ORDER denying 32 Motion to ‘Deem Requests for Admission Admitted.’ Defendants served timely responses under Fed. R. Civ. P. 36(a)(3) and Plaintiff's factual disagreement with the responses is not grounds to reject them. ... Future failures to timely respond may result in motions being granted as unopposed.”
“Specifically, Plaintiff requests a fee award of $6,632.88, and costs in the amount of $405.00 ... Plaintiff’s Unopposed Motion for Award of Attorney Fees Pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act (Doc. 15) is GRANTED. Plaintiff is awarded fees in the amount of $6,407.88 and costs in the amount of $405.00.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The reviewed matters provide descriptive caseload context for an early tenure beginning in June 2025. No authoritative case-disposition baseline is available because the existing administrative data predates his appointment.
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 |
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 Hill: 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 Hill with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Hill, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
Opens in Ezel Pro.
- Grounded in Judge Hill's own signed orders
- Cites every source it relies on, so you can verify it
- Chat, drafting and research in one workspace