Michael J. Bordallo
How Judge Bordallo rules, drawn from 7 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Bordallo
Michael J. Bordallo became the United States Magistrate Judge for the District Court of Guam in February 2020. He succeeded the retiring magistrate judge in that full-time position.
Judge Bordallo's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Bordallo's own (checked October 10, 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 Bordallo decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On equitable tolling of a statutory deadline, the judge treats concrete, repeated warnings the plaintiff received about the correct forum and deadline (not just the plaintiff's subjective confusion or lack of legal training) as decisive against excusing a late filing.
“The Plaintiffs were cautioned twice about where they should bring their FTCA claim. ... The court finds that the Plaintiffs were not diligent in pursuing their claim of negligence or medical malpractice.”
In a hostile-work-environment analysis, the judge weighs how quickly and effectively the employer acted once notified, comparing it directly to how courts have treated employer delay in other cases, rather than resting solely on the offensiveness of the underlying conduct.
“The delayed action by the plaintiff's employer in Okonowsky is in stark contrast to the action taken by the Agency in the instant case.”
Procedural preferences
When a plaintiff's own sworn declaration resolves a genuine citizenship/diversity defect, the judge favors dismissal with leave to amend over dismissal that forecloses the case entirely, even where the original pleading was deficient.
“The court finds that amendment would not be futile, so the Plaintiff should be allowed to file an amended complaint that corrects the defective jurisdictional allegations.”
For a remote deposition request, the judge credited current medical evidence of harm from an in-person confrontation over the opposing party’s reliance on a prior appearance, then required a particularized showing of prejudice from video testimony.
“The Defendant’s argument about the Plaintiff’s condition last year does not diminish the treating psychiatrist’s professional opinion about the Plaintiff’s current mental health status.”
Cautions
For release pending sentencing, ordinary hardships of confinement such as lack of law-library access did not qualify as exceptional reasons, particularly where standby counsel could assist with legal research.
“Finally, the fact that the Defendant cannot access a law library is not an exceptional factor. Rather, it is a hardship that commonly results from imprisonment.”
A represented detainee’s law-library request failed because the judge treated appointed counsel as meaningful access to the courts, while leaving administrative access to prison officials available.
“Defendant may not insist on an alternative form of access of her choosing.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Based on the above discussion, the court recommends that the District Judge (1) grant the Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction, (2) dismiss the Complaint without prejudice and (3) give the Plaintiff leave to file an amended complaint to cure technical defects alleging complete diversity jurisdiction between the parties.”
“Accordingly, the court recommends the Chief Judge grant the United States Motion to Dismiss this action without leave to amend because amendment would be futile.”
“Considering the evidence in the light most favorable to the Plaintiff, the court concludes that no reasonable jury could find that the conduct at issue was sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the terms of the Plaintiff's employment and create a hostile work environment. Therefore, the court hereby GRANTS Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment.”
“the court recommends that the Chief Judge (1) grant the Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss”
“deny the Attorney General’s Motion for Leave to File an Amended Complaint”
“deny the Attorney General’s Motions to Consolidate”
“deny the Defendants’ Motion to Strike as moot.”
“Based on the above analysis, the court hereby denies the Defendant’s request for release pending sentencing because he has failed to satisfy the requirements of Sections 3143(a)(2) and 3145(c).”
“Accordingly, the court grants the Plaintiff’s Motion for Protective Order.”
“Based on the foregoing, the court DENIES the Defendant’s request for an order authorizing”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- As the district's sole magistrate judge, Bordallo's own docket is dominated by miscellaneous matters, search-warrant and surveillance applications, material-witness proceedings, and petty-offense/misdemeanor cases, alongside his referral role handling pretrial management, felony proceedings, and reports and recommendations across nearly all civil and criminal cases the Chief Judge is assigned.
- Almost none of this ex parte investigative caseload produces adversarial, ruled-on civil motion practice; the one contested ruling grounded from his own docket is a twice-filed material-witness warrant application that was denied both times.
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 | 3 |
| 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 | 3 | 0 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2025 | 1 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 2 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 1 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 7 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 5 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 1 | 0 |
| Mar 2021 | 1 | 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 District Court of Guam, not for Judge Bordallo: 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 | 137 | 77.3 months |
| Closed with no court action | 8 | not reported |
| Closed before pretrial | 121 | 77.3 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 8 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 137 | 77.3 months |
| Sep 2024 | 41 | 34.9 months |
| Sep 2023 | 27 | 8 months |
| Sep 2022 | 25 | 13.8 months |
| Sep 2021 | 53 | 10 months |
| Sep 2020 | 32 | 11.7 months |
| Sep 2019 | 26 | 12.5 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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