Gabriel A. Fuentes
How Judge Fuentes rules, drawn from 16 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Fuentes
Gabriel A. Fuentes has served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Illinois since May 2019. He previously practiced at Jenner & Block and served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago. Before law school, he reported for the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times.
Judge Fuentes's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Fuentes, as published on the court's website (checked October 8, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
- Case Procedures ↗
- Standing Order for Pretrial Procedures in Consent Cases ↗
- Judge Fuentes' Standing Order for Settlement Conference ↗
Key rules
Motions
Read and follow Judge Fuentes’s final pretrial order in consent cases.
“Counsel must read and follow the requirements in that Standing Order when filing a Final Pretrial Order in a consent case before 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 Fuentes decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Veronica W. v. O'Malley, Fuentes remanded the Social Security denial because the administrative law judge had not addressed the claimant's school records when assessing the medical opinion and work capacity.
“we grant Plaintiff's motion to remand ... and deny Defendant's motion to affirm.”
In Kortez B., the court remanded when the administrative law judge found a doctor’s sitting and standing limits persuasive but adopted a work-capacity finding that did not explain how the claimant could sustain those limits during a workday. The decision required a logical connection between the credited opinion and the final work assessment.
“The ALJ’s treatment of Dr. Okai’s opinion, finding its limitations on Plaintiff’s ability to stand, walk, and lift objects to be persuasive but adopting an RFC that presumes Plaintiff could sit for more than 45 minutes at a time and stand for more than 30 minutes at a time, is an ‘illogical’ and ‘inconsistent’ conclusion”
In Latoya M., Fuentes remanded a benefits denial because a work-capacity limit to simple instructions did not account for the claimant’s moderate limits in concentration, persistence, and pace.
“limiting Plaintiff to simple instructions in the RFC is not enough to account for her moderate limitations in CPP”
Procedural preferences
In Diamond Services Management Co. v. C&C Jewelry Manufacturing, Fuentes granted a motion to compel and held that the company controlled responsive documents even if an individual defendant personally possessed them.
“the Court grants Plaintiffs' First Motion to Compel (D.E. 158) in full”
Cautions
In In re Search of Suppressed, Fuentes granted a Criminal Justice Act appointment for an uncharged investigation target after finding that the right to counsel had attached during pre-charge plea negotiations.
“For the foregoing reasons, the Motion is granted.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the Court grants Plaintiff's request for remand and denies the Commissioner's motion to affirm.”
“we grant Plaintiff's request for remand (D.E. 13) and deny the Commissioner's motion to affirm (D.E. 18).”
“Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment is granted”
“the Court denies Plaintiff's motion to remand ... and grants the Commissioner's motion ... to affirm the ALJ opinion.”
“The Court GRANTS the Plaintiff's memorandum seeking remand of the decision (D.E. 19).”
“we grant Plaintiff's motion to remand ... and deny Defendant's motion to affirm.”
“C&C's motion to compel and to bar the AEO designation ... is partially granted and partially denied”
“the Court grants Plaintiffs' First Motion to Compel (D.E. 158) in full”
“For the foregoing reasons, the Motion is granted.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the Court denies Plaintiff’s motion to reverse and remand the ALJ’s decision (D.E. 17, 18) and grants Defendant’s motion for summary judgment (D.E. 26).”
“For the foregoing reasons, the Court grants Plaintiff’s brief in support of reversing and remanding the ALJ’s decision (D.E. 21) and denies Defendant’s memorandum in support of affirming the decision (D.E. 24).”
“the Court denies Plaintiff’s motion (D.E. 26, 27) seeking to reverse and remand the ALJ’s decision”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Judge Fuentes's docket includes duty-magistrate matters such as sealed warrant and grand-jury applications, as well as criminal assignments. His reviewed civil work consists primarily of Social Security appeals decided by consent under 28 U.S.C. 636(c) and referred discovery disputes, including motions to compel.
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 | 2 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2023 | 1 | 2 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 3 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 3 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 3 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 1 |
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 Northern District of Illinois, not for Judge Fuentes: 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 | 12,205 | 5.9 months |
| Closed with no court action | 4,300 | 7 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 7,558 | 5.4 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 305 | 12.6 months |
| Closed during trial | 42 | 49.5 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 12,205 | 5.9 months |
| Sep 2024 | 9,700 | 6.8 months |
| Sep 2023 | 7,093 | 6 months |
| Sep 2022 | 6,841 | 7.3 months |
| Sep 2021 | 9,703 | 15.1 months |
| Sep 2020 | 8,046 | 10.6 months |
| Sep 2019 | 8,134 | 7.4 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 Fuentes with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Fuentes, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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