James Block Zagel
How Judge Zagel decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
He treats a complaint refiled after a voluntary dismissal as a brand-new, independent action — not a continuation. That drives several consequences: the 30-day removal clock restarts from service of the refiled complaint (so removal that would be 'late' relative to the original case is timely), and conduct/waiver in the earlier action does not bind the parties in the refiled one.
“the refiling is, by definition, a new action”
On Rule 12(b)(6) he reads claims for their substance, not their labels: he rejected the argument that every misrepresentation count is 'fraud' subject to Rule 9(b) particularity, observing that liability for misrepresentation does not always require intent or reliance, so CAN-SPAM concealment-of-origin claims are not held to the heightened pleading standard.
“Counter-Defendants assume that all misrepresentation (think of it here as “flying under false colors”) is fraud, but this is not so.”
In employment cases he applies the standard Seventh Circuit framework rigorously: the plaintiff must identify a materially adverse employment action, and 'petty slights or minor annoyances' (a denied personal day, an unanswered email, not being greeted) do not qualify; a documented, legitimate non-pretextual reason for discipline (here, a guilty plea to criminal misdemeanors) defeats a retaliation/discrimination claim.
“Title VII does not set forth a “general civility code for the American workplace””
Procedural preferences
He values doctrinal consistency among district judges and will follow a settled Circuit 'general rule' even where he acknowledges it has been criticized — e.g., applying the 'Jass rule' that the Plan is the only proper defendant in an ERISA 502(a)(1)(B) benefits suit rather than carving a new exception.
“I appreciate the necessity for consistency in similar cases among the district judges of this Circuit.”
On summary judgment he works methodically through the parties' Local Rule 56.1 statements, expressly striking sentences that are conclusory or unsupported by the record before deciding the motion. Tie your 56.1 facts to specific admissible evidence.
“I strike the first sentence of statement 8 as it is conclusory and unsupported by the record.”
Cautions
He polices the boundaries of statutory causes of action and will not let a statute be stretched to penalize ordinary litigation: filing suits, seeking injunctions, and mounting a vigorous defense are not 'interference' under the FHA's 3617, which is aimed at direct extralegal coercion. Plaintiffs recasting their adversaries' lawful court conduct as a statutory tort are dismissed.
“activities inherent to the adversarial system such as seeking injunctions, filing suits, submitting affidavits, etc. go beyond what the FHA contemplated in § 3617.”
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.
| Motions to dismiss N = 4 |
Granted: 2Granted in part: 1Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motions to remand N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Summary judgment N = 1 |
Granted: 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 motion to dismiss is denied as to all counts except Count VI.”
“Plaintiffs’ Motion to Remand is denied and Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss is denied.”
“Plaintiffs’ Motion to Remand is denied and Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss is denied.”
“Defendants’ motions to dismiss are granted and this case is dismissed.”
“Defendant Unum’s Motion to dismiss is GRANTED.”
“For the foregoing reasons I grant Defendants’ motion for summary judgment.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 85.0 days (N = 9).
Sampled from a 2010 filing cohort (during his active-judge tenure, pre-senior). A broad civil mix plus a substantial criminal calendar (he presided over high-profile prosecutions, including the Blagojevich trials): civil rights (incl. pro se), employment, ERISA/insurance, consumer/banking, university/education, immigration (mandamus/APA), and commercial/contract. Criminal dockets excluded from the duration sample.