Harold Albert Baker
How Judge Baker decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Decides statutory and immunity questions on the controlling text, not on agency leniency or reliance: an ERISA plan could not rely on a superseded PBGC regulation over later statutes, and an FMLA claimant's estoppel argument failed for lack of reasonable reliance.
“Can competent lawyers and accountants engaged in the highly technical task of computing the present cash value of deferred annuities ignore seven year-old relevant amendments to the Code and ERISA and claim estoppel? The question is rhetorical; the answer is “No!””
Construes pro se and civil-rights complaints liberally at the pleadings stage and will not require plaintiffs to plead which defendant did what; those particulars are for discovery.
“He need not allege precisely what each defendant did on each particular day on which he alleges a different instance of deliberate indifference. What any one officer did or didn't do, and when, will be fleshed out in discovery.”
Procedural preferences
Strictly enforces the Central District of Illinois local rules on summary-judgment fact statements: a non-movant's unsupported 'flat denials' of the movant's numbered undisputed facts are deemed admitted.
“Plaintiffs' flat denials, without reference to supporting materials, have no standing under the local rule. ... those facts must be deemed admitted.”
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 = 4 |
Granted: 3Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motions to dismiss N = 2 |
Granted: 1Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Habeas petition N = 1 |
Granted in part: 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.
“The plaintiff's motion for summary judgment (# 16) is denied, and the defendant's motion for summary judgment (# 20) is allowed.”
“the defendant's motion for summary judgment (# 20) is allowed. ... The Clerk of the Court is to enter judgment and costs of suit in favor of the defendant-third party plaintiff, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation”
“the court grants the defendants' motion to dismiss (# 15), as well as the plaintiff's motion to strike the defendants' reply (# 23). The plaintiff's complaint is therefore dismissed with prejudice. This case is terminated.”
“the court denies the petition for a writ of habeas corpus with respect to the guilt-innocence phase of the trial, but grants the writ with respect to the death sentence subject to the conditions discussed below.”
“The defendant's motion for summary judgment [23] is granted. This case is terminated. The parties shall bear their own costs.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the motion to dismiss [20] is denied in its entirety. The defendants shall file their answer within fourteen days of the date of this order.”
“For the following reasons, Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (# 36) is GRANTED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 1911 days (N = 18).