Richard L. Puglisi
How Judge Puglisi rules, drawn from 4 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Puglisi no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Puglisi
Richard L. Puglisi served as a United States magistrate judge in the District of Hawaii from April 2011 through March 2019. Before moving to Hawaii, he was chief magistrate judge in the District of New Mexico and served as a Navy legal officer.
How Judge Puglisi decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On a fee dispute where the objecting party raised only a procedural failure (no meet-and-confer) rather than disputing the substance of the costs claimed, the judge found the procedural lapse harmless because a conference would have been futile, and reached the merits anyway.
“Although this does not excuse Defendant's counsel failure, it would be wasteful of the parties' time and the court's resources to require Defendant to file another bill of costs.”
Procedural preferences
In Bartholomew, Puglisi ordered a party or nonlawyer representative with final settlement authority to attend the settlement conference in person. After the plaintiffs failed to appear, he recommended compensatory fees and costs; the district judge adopted the recommendation.
“Each party or a designated representative with final settlement authority, other than an attorney of record, must personally attend the settlement conference.”
When recommending attorneys' fees, the judge audited billing records line by line rather than accepting a lodestar at face value, cutting entries for duplicate billing among co-counsel, vague time descriptions, and clerical tasks.
“The Court FINDS and RECOMMENDS that Defendants' Motion for an Award of Attorneys' Fees and Non-Taxable Costs be GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.”
Cautions
In Davis v. Lahaina Cruise Company, Puglisi recommended dismissing the action with prejudice under Rule 41(b) after the plaintiff disobeyed a discovery order, missed the show-cause hearing, and prevented the defendants from completing discovery.
“The Court FINDS AND RECOMMENDS that this action be DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) for failure to comply with a court order and cooperate in discovery.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The Court FINDS AND RECOMMENDS that this action be DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) for failure to comply with a court order and cooperate in discovery.”
“The Court FINDS and RECOMMENDS that Plaintiff Cook Production, LLC's Motion for Default Judgment Against Defendant Alex Stewart be GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART as follows: (1) Default judgment be entered in Plaintiff's favor and against Defendant Alex Stewart; ... (4) Plaintiff be GRANTED an award of $750 in statutory damages; and (5) Plaintiff's request for attorneys' fees be DENIED.”
“The Court FINDS and RECOMMENDS that Defendants' Motion for an Award of Attorneys' Fees and Non-Taxable Costs be GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. The Court RECOMMENDS that the court AWARD Defendant $273,589.25 in attorneys' fees and non-taxable costs and DENY Plaintiff's objections to Defendants' Bill of Costs.”
“The Court FINDS and RECOMMENDS that Defendant is entitled to $1,462.54 in taxable costs.”
A district judge reviewed de novo Puglisi's Amended Findings and Recommendation to sanction the plaintiffs for failing to personally attend a court-ordered settlement conference. The district judge overruled the objections and adopted the recommendation in full, calling the underlying decision correct. This entry supplies context on Puglisi's reasoning, while the final order itself was signed by the district judge.
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- Puglisi's Hawaii docket spanned civil-rights, ADA, personal-injury, copyright, ERISA, and insurance-declaratory-judgment cases as the parties' consent magistrate judge under 28 U.S.C.
- Section 636(c), plus a criminal and magistrate (mj/po) caseload including petty offenses, search-warrant applications, and detention hearings.
- In the sampled window, most civil cases resolved through case management, scheduling, and settlement conferences without a dispositive motion being decided: consistent with a consent-jurisdiction docket where settlement is a strong pull.
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 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| 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.
A historical record
Judge Puglisi no longer sits on this court. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.