Steven Douglas Merryday
How Judge Merryday rules, drawn from 20 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Merryday
Steven Douglas Merryday is a judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Appointed by President George H.W. Bush, Judge Merryday received a commission on February 10, 1992. Judge Merryday assumed senior status on August 31, 2025.
Judge Merryday's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Merryday'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 Merryday decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In a telephone solicitation suit, Merryday allowed a do-not-call claim to proceed because disputes remained over when the caller lost consent and whether it responded within a reasonable time.
“At least two predominant disputes of material fact preclude summary judgment for either party in count two.”
After a bicycle supplier lost a fraud trial, Merryday sustained the punitive award, citing the severity of the supplier’s conduct and the need to deter similar behavior.
“Giant’s conduct was ‘exceedingly reprehensible.’”
Procedural preferences
In the telephone solicitation suit, Merryday denied a late request to add a wiretapping claim because the change would prolong discovery and prejudice the opposing party.
“the proposed amendment unduly prejudices Quicken by prolonging the resolution of this action.”
Cautions
In a prisoner retaliation suit, Merryday dismissed the complaint after finding that a later grievance submission did not cure the failure to meet the administrative deadline.
“Cuminotto failed to properly exhaust his administrative remedies.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The defendants' renewed motion (Docs. 452 and 455) for judgment as a matter of law is GRANTED. ... The judgments (Docs. 432 through 436) against the defendants are VACATED.”
“Alternatively, the request (Doc. 452 at 37-40) for a new trial is conditionally GRANTED for the reasons explained above and for the reasons identified and satisfactorily explained in the defendants' motion.”
“The defendants' motion for remittitur is DENIED AS MOOT.”
“the defendants' motion (Doc. 86) for summary judgment is GRANTED. The clerk is directed (1) to enter judgment for Kevin Barker and Barker Boatworks and against Yellowfin Yachts ... and (4) to close the case.”
“Daubert requires the exclusion of the survey, and the motion (Doc. 120) to exclude Harper's survey is GRANTED.”
“Quicken's motion (Docs. 40 and 117) for summary judgment is GRANTED-IN-PART and DENIED-IN-PART”
“Nece's motion (Docs. 99 and 107) for summary judgment on counts two and three is DENIED”
“Nece's motion (Docs. 100 and 108) to add a wiretapping claim is DENIED”
“The FTC's motion (Doc. 46) for summary judgment is GRANTED. The clerk is directed (1) to enter a judgment for the FTC and against Nicholas Scott Congleton in counts I, II, III, and IV of the amended complaint ...”
“Travelers' motion (Doc. 108) for summary judgment is GRANTED, and Hermanns's motion (Doc. 106) for summary judgment is DENIED.”
“VLG's motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction (Doc. 11) is GRANTED, and the complaint is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE. The clerk must CLOSE the case.”
“For the reasons explained in this order, the motions to dismiss for failure to comply with Rules 8(a) and 9(b) are GRANTED. ... The claim in count IV is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE against the movants. ... No later than AUGUST 21, 2017, McFarland may amend the complaint to resolve the defects identified in this order.”
“Because 1st Care, Ankle and Foot Centers of Georgia, and De Novo submit no evidence that substantiates the constitutional challenges to personal jurisdiction, the Rule 12(b)(2) motions fail.”
“Because Florida's exercise of jurisdiction over Westfalia is proper, the motion to dismiss (Doc. 32) is DENIED. Westfalia's request (Doc. 33) for oral argument is also denied.”
“Giant’s motion (Doc. 202) for judgment as a matter of law is DENIED.”
“Giant’s motion (Doc. 201) for a new trial or for a remittitur is DENIED.”
“Darby's motion (Doc. 3) to dismiss is GRANTED. The complaint (Doc. 2) is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE. The clerk is directed to terminate any pending motion and to close the case.”
“Accordingly, the motion under Section 2255 to vacate the sentence (Doc. 1) is DENIED. The clerk must enter a judgment against Hartsfield and close this case.”
“Because the record leaves no genuine issue of material fact, Essex's claim for reformation fails, Stephens's motion for summary judgment (Doc. 53) is GRANTED, and Essex's motion for summary judgment (Doc. 40) is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 952 days (N = 5).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 271 days (N = 3).
- The reviewed cases include criminal matters involving drugs, immigration, and firearms and civil matters involving insurance, public-records access, employment, consumer communications, trade secrets, product liability, Social Security, franchise disputes, and defamation.
- Judge Merryday assumed senior status in August 2025 and continues to receive new civil and criminal assignments.
- This describes the reviewed caseload rather than a population-wide rate.
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 | 21 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 21 | 6 |
| Sep 2025 | 11 | 6 |
| Mar 2025 | 3 | 4 |
| Sep 2024 | 6 | 5 |
| Mar 2024 | 4 | 4 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 4 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 3 |
| Sep 2022 | 2 | 4 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 6 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 6 |
| Mar 2021 | 4 | 5 |
| Sep 2020 | 2 | 2 |
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 U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, not for Judge Merryday: 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 Merryday with the record in hand
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