Rodney Smith
How Judge Smith rules, drawn from 26 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Smith
Rodney Smith is a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Appointed by President Donald J. Trump, Judge Smith received a commission on June 14, 2019.
Judge Smith's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Smith'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 8, 2026).
How Judge Smith decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Held that virtualizing Apple's iOS for security-research purposes is transformative fair use under 17 U.S.C. 107, granting the defendant summary judgment on the copyright claim.
“Corellium's Motion for Summary Judgment [DE 464] is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED: a. The Motion is granted on the copyright claims, to the extent the Court finds that Corellium's use of iOS constitutes fair use; b. The Motion is denied regarding the DMCA claim.”
In one immigration detention case, Smith ordered an individualized bond hearing after finding the petitioner had been classified under the wrong detention statute.
“Petitioner’s proper classification is as a detainee pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a).”
Procedural preferences
In Caplan v. Modern Auto Sales, Smith dismissed the defendants' counterclaim because it sought only prevailing-party attorney fees and stated no independent claim. The dismissal did not prevent a later fee request if the defendants prevailed.
“ORDERED that Plaintiff's Motion to Dismiss Counterclaim [DE 10] is GRANTED and Defendants' Counterclaim is DISMISSED.”
Cautions
In State Farm v. Cereceda, Smith denied the plaintiffs' requested All Writs Act injunction against state proceedings because they had not shown it was needed to preserve the federal court's jurisdiction. He identified a state-court stay motion as a less drastic avenue.
“ORDERED that Plaintiffs' Motion for All Writs Act Injunction [DE 5] is DENIED.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Apple's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment [DE 470] is DENIED”
“Corellium's Motion for Summary Judgment [DE 464] is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED: a. The Motion is granted on the copyright claims, to the extent the Court finds that Corellium's use of iOS constitutes fair use; b. The Motion is denied regarding the DMCA claim.”
“ORDERED that Plaintiff's Motion to Dismiss Counterclaim [DE 10] is GRANTED and Defendants' Counterclaim is DISMISSED.”
“ORDERED that Plaintiffs' Motion for All Writs Act Injunction [DE 5] is DENIED.”
“The Report of the Magistrate Judge (ECF No. 106) ... is AFFIRMED and ADOPTED. ... Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Indictment, ECF No. [58] is Denied.”
“The Joint Motion to Review and Approve FLSA Settlement and Dismiss Action with Prejudice [DE 12] is GRANTED. The Settlement Agreement is approved. ... This case is DISMISSED with prejudice.”
“After reviewing the pleadings, for the reasons stated in this order, the Petition is DENIED because Petitioner is not entitled to relief on the merits. ... ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that: 1. This Petition [DE 1] is DENIED. 2. No certificate of appealability shall issue. 3. The Clerk is directed to CLOSE this case.”
“The Court having reviewed, de novo, the Report of the Magistrate Judge ... it is hereby ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that: 1. The Report of the Magistrate Judge (ECF No. 75) issued on December 20, 2019 is AFFIRMED and ADOPTED. 2. Defendants' Motion to Suppress Evidence, ECF [40] and Amended Motion to Suppress Evidence are Denied.”
“Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment [DE 13] is DENIED. Commissioner's Motion for Summary Judgment [DE 17] is GRANTED. The Commissioner's decision is AFFIRMED.”
“Plaintiff's Motion for Award of Attorney's Fees and Costs [DE 177] is DENIED.”
“The parties' Joint Motion for Approval of FLSA Settlement and to Dismiss Case with Prejudice [DE 47] is GRANTED.”
“Plaintiff's Motion for Entitlement to Attorney's Fees and Costs or, Alternatively, Motion for Supplemental Relief [DE 60] is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part”
“Defendant's Motion to Dismiss [DE 44] is GRANTED. Counts II and III of Plaintiff's Second Amended Complaint [DE 35] are DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“Defendant's Motion for Reconsideration [DE 9] is DENIED AS MOOT.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 153 days (N = 12).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 232 days (N = 3).
- The reviewed 2019-2026 matters show that Judge Smith's 2026 docket includes many alien-detainee habeas petitions, disability-access suits, and wage-and-hour cases.
- The reviewed 2019-2021 civil matters include many removed personal-injury, insurance, and consumer-credit cases that often ended through settlement or voluntary dismissal. This provides descriptive context rather than 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 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 0 |
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 Smith: 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).
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