Yeney Hernandez
How Judge Hernandez rules, drawn from 24 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Hernandez
Yeney Hernandez became a U.S. magistrate judge for the Southern District of Florida in April 2026. She serves in Miami. The district court’s appointment order provides for an eight-year term.
Judge Hernandez's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Hernandez, as published on the court's website (checked October 15, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Discovery
Confer personally by phone, video, or in person before seeking court help; email alone does not satisfy the requirement.
“If a discovery dispute arises, the parties must confer either in person, by videoconference, or by telephone, and engage in a good faith effort to resolve the dispute before seeking Court intervention. Email correspondence alone is insufficient.”
Discovery
Seek leave before filing a Rule 37 discovery motion; otherwise request a discovery hearing.
“The parties shall not raise discovery disputes by motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37 absent leave of the Court. All discovery motions filed without leave will be stricken.”
Discovery
Explain the specific burden behind vague, broad, or burdensome objections.
“Blanket, unsupported objections that a discovery request is ‘vague, overly broad, or unduly burdensome’ are, by themselves, meaningless, and will be disregarded by the Court.”
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 Hernandez decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
A motion to strike affirmative defenses was granted only for defenses that did not fit the pleaded claim or were withdrawn, while a legally available first defense remained.
“As to the First Affirmative Defense, the Motion is DENIED;”
Cautions
In an immigration detention case, she recommended a prompt bond hearing after the government no longer opposed one, while treating a temporary transfer restraint as moot once final relief resolved the petition.
“Because all parties agree that Petitioner is owed a bond hearing”
In a maritime limitation case, she denied a renewed request to approve a security letter because its revised text covered only one of two vessels at issue.
“the Updated LOU falls short as security in this case.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“It is therefore ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the Motion, [ECF No. 64], is DENIED.”
Recommended dismissing a self-represented amended complaint without prejudice for failure to comply with the prior amendment order. This court-initiated screening recommendation did not resolve a party motion.
“Motion, [ECF No. 52], is DENIED.”
“Defendants’ Motion to Strike, [ECF No. 81], is DENIED.”
“For the following reasons, the Motion is GRANTED.”
“Preliminary Injunction, [ECF No. 63], be DENIED.”
“we respectfully recommend that the Motion be DENIED.”
“Motion, [ECF No. 81], is GRANTED as follows:”
“For the foregoing reasons, it is ORDERED and ADJUDGED that the Motion is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part as follows:”
“we recommend that the Motion be DENIED.”
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 |
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 United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, not for Judge Hernandez: 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 Hernandez with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Hernandez, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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