Darrin Phillip Gayles
How Judge Gayles rules, drawn from 45 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Gayles
Darrin Phillip Gayles is a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Judge Gayles received a commission on June 19, 2014.
Judge Gayles's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Gayles, 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
Filing
Unless directed otherwise, double-space motion briefs in twelve-point Times New Roman.
“Unless otherwise specified by the Court, every motion, response, and reply shall be double-spaced in Times New Roman 12-point typeface.”
Motions
Co-parties must file joint motions unless their positions clearly conflict.
“Multiple Plaintiffs or Defendants shall file joint motions with co-parties unless there are clear conflicts of position.”
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 8, 2026).
How Judge Gayles decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Milano v. Public Health Trust of Miami-Dade County, he found the plaintiff's Florida civil-rights claims unexhausted and limited the federal discrimination complaint to matters reasonably expected to grow from the EEOC charge.
“his judicial complaint is limited by the scope of the EEOC investigation that 'can reasonably be expected to grow out of the charge of discrimination.'”
Construes insurance policies by plain meaning and resolves genuine ambiguities against the insurer in favor of coverage.
“Ambiguities in insurance contracts are interpreted against the insurer and in favor of the insured.”
In an immigration-detention challenge, treated Congress's omission of a category from the mandatory-detention statute as deliberate and rejected a regulation that extended mandatory detention beyond the listed categories.
“DHS’s subsequent decision to include noncitizens described in § 1227(a)(4)(C) within its regulations requiring mandatory detention during removal proceedings was beyond the bounds of its statutory authority.”
In Rodriguez Delgado v. Warden of Krome North SPC, Gayles granted habeas relief after repeated notices of intended removal to Mexico came without an acceptance decision or removal timetable.
“The mere repeated issuance of Notices of Removal to Mexico over the course of eight months, without any timeline for removal or evidence that Mexico has agreed to accept Petitioner”
Procedural preferences
In Milano v. Public Health Trust of Miami-Dade County, Gayles considered the merits of the defendant's unopposed summary-judgment motion before granting it, as the cited rule requires.
“the district court cannot base the entry of summary judgment on the mere fact that the motion was unopposed, but, rather, must consider the merits of the motion.”
Cautions
Failure to file a Local Rule 56.1 Statement of Material Facts in opposition means the movant's facts are deemed admitted.
“Given that Plaintiff failed to respond to Defendant's Statement of Material Facts, the Court deems those facts as true.”
Section 1981 cannot be used to sue a governmental entity; such claims fail as a matter of law.
“Section 1981 cannot be used to sue state actors or entities.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment [ECF No. 24] is DENIED.”
“Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment, [ECF No. 41], is GRANTED.”
“Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment, [ECF No. 19], is GRANTED.”
“The Court finds that all of the relevant factors weigh in favor of dismissing this action on forum non conveniens grounds. Based on the foregoing, it is ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that: (1) Defendant's Motion to Dismiss [ECF No. 80] is GRANTED; (2) this cause is DISMISSED without prejudice to Plaintiffs refiling it in the appropriate forum, conditioned on the following...”
“Defendant Apple, Inc.'s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Complaint, [ECF No. 9], is GRANTED; The Complaint, [ECF No. 1], is hereby DISMISSED without prejudice; Plaintiff may seek leave to amend his complaint within twenty (20) days of this Order”
“Plaintiffs' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, [ECF No. 68], is GRANTED IN PART as to Counts I and II of the Second Amended Complaint. The Motion is otherwise DENIED.”
“Defendant City of Opa-locka's Motion for Summary Judgment, [ECF No. 80], is GRANTED IN PART as to Counts V, VI, and VII of the Second Amended Complaint. The Motion is otherwise DENIED.”
“Judge Reid’s Report recommends that the Court dismiss the petition without prejudice as the petition is premature and Petitioner has failed to exhaust his state court remedies. ... Petitioner’s Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus [ECF No. 1] is DISMISSED without prejudice;”
“Petitioner's Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus under § 2254 [ECF No. 1] is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE for lack of jurisdiction as an unauthorized second or successive petition under § 2244(b).”
“ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that Petitioner, Lucious Boyd's Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §2254 [ECF No. 1] is DENIED. All pending motions are DENIED as moot. A Certificate of Appealability is GRANTED, in part, as to Claim A(1) (Juror Striggles).”
“the Motion [ECF No. 1] is DENIED; no certificate of appealibility shall issue; and this case is CLOSED.”
“the Petition [ECF No. 1] is DISMISSED without prejudice; no certificate of appealability shall issue; and this case is CLOSED.”
“it is hereby ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that Petitioner's Amended Petition for Emergency Injunctive Relief (the ‘Petition’) [ECF No. 3] is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The reviewed Miami matters include maritime injury, insurance, wage, consumer, employment, and class cases. The current group also includes pending alien-detainee habeas petitions. This is context from selected cases, not a caseload-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 | 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 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 3 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2021 | 2 | 2 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 2 |
| 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 Southern District of Florida, not for Judge Gayles: 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 | 8,196 | 3.4 months |
| Closed with no court action | 848 | 3 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 7,287 | 3.5 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 16 | 10.1 months |
| Closed during trial | 45 | 17.1 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 8,196 | 3.4 months |
| Sep 2024 | 7,755 | 3.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 20,408 | 0 months |
| Sep 2022 | 8,287 | 3.7 months |
| Sep 2021 | 8,536 | 3.2 months |
| Sep 2020 | 8,657 | 3.4 months |
| Sep 2019 | 9,471 | 3.7 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 Gayles with the record in hand
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