Ian H. Levin
Judge Levin no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Levin decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On Social Security review he defers to the ALJ's reliance on an unrebutted vocational expert: where the VE testifies the claimant can perform her past relevant work as it is generally performed in the national economy and the claimant's counsel neither objects nor cross-examines on the point, that testimony is substantial evidence and the denial is affirmed.
“There was ‘substantial evidence’ of record to support the ALJ finding that Plaintiff could perform her past relevant work as a sedentary level product hand assembler. The ALJ relied on the testimony of the vocational expert. ... The above testimony was unobjected to, and the plaintiff's attorney at the hearing did not cross-examine the vocational expert on this point(s).”
Procedural preferences
He treats attorney disqualification as a drastic remedy reserved for clearly proven, willful no-contact-rule violations causing prejudice: an undeveloped record that does not establish counsel caused investigators to contact represented parties, or any bad-faith discovery concealment, will not support disqualification or sanctions.
“the court determines that the evidence in the record (and the state of the record) does not adequately establish that Mr. Kinsella or his firm either communicated or caused the undercover investigators to communicate with Plaintiffs ... so as to warrant the ‘drastic’ sanction of attorney disqualification.”
Cautions
On a pretrial-detention motion he reasons explicitly about flight risk through the defendant's mental state and physical means, and discounts electronic monitoring and third-party-owned bond security: where the charge sits inside a terrorism-financing investigation, the defendant has family abroad and an extensive international network, and the proposed security would cost the defendant's family nothing, no conditions will reasonably assure appearance.
“It also bears noting that electronic monitoring can't stop a person from fleeing. ... There thus would be no financial harm incurred by Defendant's family if he flees, which therefore creates significantly less incentive for the Defendant to stay”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the reasons set forth below, the Commissioner's decision is affirmed and the motion for remand denied.”
“This court has determined from the de novo review of the additional evidence submitted by Plaintiff that this evidence would not have a reasonable probability of causing a different disposition. ... In short, the subject evidence does not meet the definitional standard for materiality.”
“In view of the foregoing, the Plaintiffs' Amended Motion for Sanctions and to Disqualify is denied.”
“the Court determines that the Government has met its burden that the Defendant is a risk of flight. And the Court finds that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the appearance of the Defendant as required. Therefore, the Defendant is ordered detained pending trial.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The only docket subset enumerable for this judge is his duty-magistrate work: approving federal search warrants and handling civil-forfeiture seizure matters, which open and close the same day and carry no litigated motion timeline. This is not a representative picture of his decision docket, which consisted largely of Social Security appeals and civil cases handled on the parties' consent.
A historical record
Judge Levin no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.