Jeffrey N. Cole
How Judge Cole rules, drawn from 7 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Cole no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Cole
Jeffrey N. Cole served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Illinois beginning in 2005. Before joining the bench, he was an Assistant United States Attorney in the district and practiced law in Chicago.
How Judge Cole decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
In Geraci v. Andrews, Cole directed counsel on both sides of a discovery dispute to meet in person and confer in good faith after finding their email exchanges insufficient under Local Rule 37.2. He required a detailed joint certification if disputes remained before considering further motions to compel.
“Only then will any further motions to compel be considered.”
In Fleury v. Union Pacific Railroad, Cole denied the plaintiff’s motion to compel without prejudice and directed the parties to keep conferring over two discovery requests and a confidentiality order.
“the parties have more work to do. They are directed to continue meeting to resolve their differences over the two discovery requests and the Confidentiality Order and submit a status report on December 18, 2022.”
Cautions
In Hangzhou Aoshuang E-Commerce Co. v. 008Fashion, Cole granted the plaintiff’s post-compulsion fee petition for $8,417.50 under Rule 37(a)(5), payable within 15 days.
“the plaintiff's Fee Petition in the amount of $8417.50 [Dkt. #300] is granted and shall be paid within 15 days.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The plaintiff's motion to compel [Dkt. #103] is denied without prejudice to refiling in the unlikely event the parties fail to resolve these rather routine discovery matters.”
“Thus, the defendant's motion to compel [Dkt. #299] is denied.”
“The Motion is denied for the reasons set forth below.”
“As such, the plaintiff's Motion [Dkt. #79] is denied, and this referral [Dkt. #80] is closed and the case is returned to Judge Aspen.”
“The plaintiff's Motion to Compel Compliance with the Non-party Subpoena [Dkt. #72] is denied.”
“the plaintiff's Fee Petition in the amount of $8417.50 [Dkt. #300] is granted and shall be paid within 15 days.”
“Accordingly, the plaintiff's Motion is granted but only insofar as it seeks to bar the deposition of Orlando Juarez. [Dkt. #30].”
On the parties' cross-motions to compel, Judge Cole directed them to confer further before he would rule rather than granting or denying either motion. The order illustrates his practice of requiring counsel to exhaust the meet-and-confer process before seeking a discovery ruling.
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Judge Cole handled referred discovery and pretrial motion practice across the district's civil docket, including motions to compel, protective orders, and fee disputes. The reviewed proceedings span consumer-debt, wage-and-hour, biometric-privacy, intellectual-property, patent, expert-evidence, and federal-employment matters.
A historical record
Judge Cole 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.