Darrin Phillip Gayles
How Judge Gayles decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Strictly enforces administrative exhaustion: an FCRA plaintiff must file with the FCHR/EEOC and the federal complaint is confined to the scope of 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.”
Procedural preferences
Will not grant an unopposed summary-judgment motion automatically; he reviews the movant's record citations on the merits even when the non-movant defaults.
“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.”
Motion outcomes
Counted from classified signed orders only. Percentages are shown only where the sample is large enough to be meaningful; smaller samples are reported as raw counts.
| Summary judgment N = 3 |
Granted: 2Denied: 1 | counts only |
A "1 of 1" is one ruling, not a tendency. Treat small samples as illustrative, not predictive.
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.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
A current assigned_judge enumeration is flooded by the 2026 S.D. Fla. alien-detainee 463 habeas surge (Krome/Broward Transitional Center/ICE petitions, all pending). Miami's cruise-line maritime PI docket is a recurring feature. Caseload is descriptive, not a base rate.