Nicholas P. Mizell
How Judge Mizell rules, drawn from 18 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Mizell
Nicholas P. Mizell has served as a United States Magistrate Judge in the Fort Myers Division of the Middle District of Florida since July 2019. He earned his law degree from the University of Kansas and previously practiced civil trial and appellate litigation in Naples.
Judge Mizell's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Mizell, 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
Motions
File dispositive and Daubert motions at least four months before the final pretrial meeting.
“The Court REQUIRES at least 4 months before the final pretrial meeting”
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 Mizell decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Gulfside, Inc. v. Lexington Insurance Co., he held that the policy’s appraisal provision made appraisal mandatory once properly demanded.
“when an insurance policy contains an appraisal provision, the right to appraisal is not permissive but is instead mandatory, so once a demand for appraisal is made, neither party has the right to deny that demand.”
In Prime Property’s coverage case, Mizell checked jurisdiction, service, and the pleaded basis for relief before recommending default judgment against the nonresponding defendants.
“Therefore, the court must first review subject-matter jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction, service of process, and whether the complaint states a claim upon which relief may be granted before entering judgment.”
In Toptal, LLC v. Beneschott, he found that the movant had not shown the requested nonparty documents were relevant or responsive to the subpoena.
“Toptal has not met its burden of proving that the 271 at-issue documents are relevant or responsive to the Andela subpoena.”
In JPMorgan Chase Bank v. Inova International, the court granted summary judgment where the loan documents, missed payments, and guaranty left no genuine liability dispute and the defendants’ asserted defenses did not create one. The amount of fees and costs remained for later resolution.
“With liability established and no viable defense, JPMorgan is entitled to judgment in its favor for the amounts due under the Loan Documents.”
In Bonheur, Mizell partly granted a competency-hospitalization motion after the defendant waited more than four months for a bed. He held that queue placement did not discharge the government’s duty to hospitalize and set a further deadline.
“the government’s statutory duty is to hospitalize Bonheur, and not simply to identify a suitable facility and place him in a queue.”
Procedural preferences
In Clifft, Mizell required amended answers to requests for admission after the defendants responded that documents spoke for themselves instead of directly addressing the requests.
“Such a response is not proper.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the following reasons, the Court recommends that the Motion for Default Judgment (Doc. 9) be granted. ... GSI has pleaded plausible facts showing that it prevailed in an arbitration against Dogali ... Therefore, the Court finds a sufficient basis in the pleadings for a default judgment to enforce the arbitration award against Dogali.”
“The motion to compel appraisal (Doc. 35) is GRANTED. For the amount of loss that remains in dispute (that is, excluding the roof claim), the parties are ordered to conduct an appraisal as prescribed by the appraisal provisions of the insurance policy.”
“For these reasons, Toptal's motion to compel (Doc. 1) is DENIED.”
“Toptal's request for oral argument as to its motion to compel (Doc. 16) is DENIED as moot.”
“Accordingly, the court should GRANT the motion for default judgment (Doc. 31); declare that Prime Property and Casualty Insurance Inc. has no duty to defend or indemnify Oakes Farms, Inc., Fruit Dynamics, LLC, Oakes Farms Transportation, or Adrian Flores; and direct the clerk to enter a declaratory judgment in favor of Plaintiff Property and Casualty Insurance Inc. in all respects.”
“unopposed motion for EAJA fees (Doc. 19) is GRANTED”
“the decision of the Commissioner is AFFIRMED pursuant to sentence”
“decision of the Commissioner is AFFIRMED pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g)”
“decision of the Commissioner is AFFIRMED pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g)”
“JPMorgan’s motion for summary judgment (Doc. 59) is GRANTED.”
“decision of the Commissioner is AFFIRMED pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g)”
“Clifft’s motion to determine the sufficiency of Defendants’ answers to requests for admissions (Doc. 126) is GRANTED as to RFAs 6, 8, 11, 14 through 25, 27, 28, 30, 31, 33, 34, 42, 46, 52, 53, 55, and 57, but is otherwise DENIED.”
“Accordingly, Theodoris’s motion to compel is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Caseload mix is descriptive, from the dockets he was referred into; because he is a referral magistrate the cases are owned by the assigned district judge, so per-judge case durations are not attributed to him.
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 Mizell: 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 Mizell with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Mizell, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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