Sheri Polster Chappell
How Judge Chappell rules, drawn from 15 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
How Judge Chappell decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Reads statutes closely and textually, declining to expand a narrowly drafted consumer-protection statute beyond its terms.
“Defendant Dyck-O'Neal, Inc.'s Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings (Doc. 87) is GRANTED. The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to enter judgment accordingly ... and close the file.”
A surety seeking specific performance of a clear collateral-security clause can establish irreparable harm from the loss of collateralization itself while claims remain pending; delay in seeking relief is relevant but not necessarily fatal when the other Rule 65 factors strongly favor enforcement.
“the nature of the injury in collateral security provision cases is the lack of collateralization while claims are pending, and nothing can remedy that injury after the fact.”
A constitutional tort theory must connect the challenged speech to the individual defendant's own knowledge and actions; motive cannot be imputed from other officials without record evidence of that connection.
“There must exist ‘a factual connection between [Plaintiff’s] speech and each individual official defendant, through the official’s own individual actions[.]’”
In Longo, the court treated Congress's express exclusion of Indian tribes from Title VII's employer definition as dispositive of the former casino employee's federal claim.
“Congress chose to expressly exempt Indian tribes from Title VII’s definition of ‘employer.’”
In Turtle, the court distinguished the tribe's retained right to sell alligator eggs from the government's authority to enforce nondiscriminatory conservation measures protecting the species.
“In short, although Congress has not exercised its authority to abrogate Turtle's right to sell eggs, those rights are not unlimited.”
In Peoples Gas, the court declined to create a statutory indemnity remedy where the underground-facility statute supplied no express or implied right to recover a third-party settlement.
“A plain reading of the statute supports no claim for indemnification.”
Procedural preferences
In products-liability cases, dismisses claims that fail Rule 9(b) particularity or lack privity while sustaining adequately pleaded design and failure-to-warn claims, granting leave to replead.
“The Motion is GRANTED as to Counts V-XI, and those Counts are DISMISSED. The Motion is DENIED in all other respects. [Plaintiff] must file a Second Amended Complaint on or before May 21, 2018 that is consistent with this Opinion and Order.”
At the dismissal stage, she will not rely on a defendant's attached contract when the complaint does not attach it and the plaintiff genuinely disputes its authenticity. Contract-based defenses may need a developed record rather than incorporation by reference.
“Plaintiffs do dispute the agreements’ authenticity. ... So the Court will not consider the agreements at this stage.”
When an undisputed valid contract governs the same subject matter, she dismisses unjust enrichment with prejudice rather than permitting duplicative quasi-contract recovery; curable statutory conditions-precedent defects may receive leave to amend in the same order.
“It is well-settled that a plaintiff cannot pursue an unjust enrichment claim if a valid contract exists.”
In Medina, the court assessed disability accommodation by meaningful access to the program as a whole rather than by whether the public entity supplied the claimant's preferred or optimal accommodation.
“But equal access is not the standard under the law, and Defendant has provided the Court with enough evidence to illustrate that there is no genuine issue whether it has reasonably accommodated A.M. by providing her meaningful access.”
Cautions
Enforces ripeness and justiciability at the threshold: an insurer's duty-to-indemnify claim is not ripe until the insured's liability is determined, warranting dismissal without prejudice even on an unopposed motion.
“Plaintiff Mid-Continent Casualty Company's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 64) and Motion for Default Judgment (Doc. 78) are DENIED. 1. This case is DISMISSED without prejudice.”
In a due-process habeas challenge, she distinguishes an unreviewable request to second-guess discretionary immigration bond judgment from a reviewable claim that detention rests on acknowledged factual errors; persistence in a corrected mistake can be arbitrary.
“The government’s decision to double-down on its mistake, despite clear evidence and tacit acknowledgement that it was a mistake, is arbitrary.”
In NBR Shoppes, the court denied appellate attorney's fees despite affirming the bankruptcy order because the unsuccessful appeal relied on legal authority and was not frivolous.
“However, simply because NBR lost on appeal does not make the appeal frivolous.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Plaintiffs Federal Trade Commission and State of Florida's Motion to Reinstate the Freeze Over Assets Jointly Held by Robert and Olga Cupo and Assets Held by Dennis Cupo (Doc. 194) is DENIED.”
“Defendants' Renewed and Amended Motion to Unfreeze Individual Defendants' and Non-Party Assets and Credit (Doc. 203) is DENIED without prejudice.”
“Defendant Dyck-O'Neal, Inc.'s Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings (Doc. 87) is GRANTED. The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to enter judgment accordingly ... and close the file.”
“Plaintiff Mid-Continent Casualty Company's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 64) and Motion for Default Judgment (Doc. 78) are DENIED. 1. This case is DISMISSED without prejudice.”
“Defendant Fay Servicing, LLC's Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 7) and Defendant McCalla, Raymer, Leibert, Pierce, LLC's Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 12) are GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. a. Counts II and IV (FCCPA) are DISMISSED ... Counts I and III (FDCPA) survive at the motion to dismiss stage.”
“Defendant Fay Servicing, LLC's Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 7) and Defendant McCalla, Raymer, Leibert, Pierce, LLC's Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 12) are GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. a. Counts II and IV (FCCPA) are DISMISSED ... Counts I and III (FDCPA) survive.”
“The Motion is GRANTED as to Counts V-XI, and those Counts are DISMISSED. The Motion is DENIED in all other respects. [Plaintiff] must file a Second Amended Complaint on or before May 21, 2018 that is consistent with this Opinion and Order.”
“Defendant’s Amended Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint (Doc. 37) is DENIED.”
“To the extent Defendant incorporates a motion to strike Plaintiffs’ jury demand into its Motion to Dismiss, the motion to strike is denied without prejudice and may be refiled as its own motion.”
“Travelers’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Doc. 35) is GRANTED.”
“Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 135) is GRANTED.”
“Counts II and V are DISMISSED with prejudice; Count III is DISMISSED without prejudice.”
“Jorge Eliecer Madera Reyes’s Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (Doc. 1) is GRANTED.”
“Defendant Seminole Indian Casino-Immokalee’s Motion to Dismiss (Doc.# 24) is GRANTED.”
“Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. #42) is GRANTED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 161 days (N = 7).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 53 days (N = 6).
Many reviewed False Claims Act matters spent long periods under seal while the government considered intervention, so their total durations are poor measures of motion-resolution time. The contested written decisions more often arose from consumer-protection, debt-collection, insurance, and product-liability disputes. This is descriptive context rather than a complete caseload measure.
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