Reona Jean Daly
How Judge Daly rules, drawn from 16 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
How Judge Daly decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On a failure-to-prosecute motion she weighs the plaintiff's demonstrated intent to proceed: cooperation in discovery and clear signals of intent defeat the motion even after a missed deadline (Hileman), but ignoring multiple orders and a show-cause warning yields dismissal WITH prejudice (Jeffries).
“although Hileman failed to meet the deadline to file his notice to proceed pro se, 'he has made clear to the Court that he intends to proceed with the case and is cooperating in the discovery process'”
Procedural preferences
Confirms subject-matter jurisdiction before reaching the merits/disposition, including in default/removal postures (disregards fictitious defendants' citizenship under 1441(b); evaluates amount-in-controversy on record evidence).
“The undersigned is satisfied that this Court has subject matter jurisdiction to determine Plaintiff's case. 28 U.S.C. 1332(a)(1).”
Holds Rule 56 movants, including pro se litigants, to the record-citation requirement; pro se status earns liberal construction but not an exemption from Rule 56(c).
“The Court liberally construes pleadings filed by pro se litigants, but Plaintiff must still follow this rule.”
Resolves prisoner exhaustion disputes on the Pavey track: holds an evidentiary hearing before recommending summary judgment for failure to exhaust (dismissal without prejudice).
“recommending, after holding an evidentiary hearing, that the Court grant the defendants' motion for summary judgment ... and dismiss ... for failure to exhaust administrative remedies”
Cautions
Sets a high bar for inherent-authority sanctions: requires a finding of bad faith, and will steer parties to Rule 11 for litigation-conduct complaints rather than penalize mere haste/imprecision.
“Any sanctions imposed pursuant to the court's inherent authority must be premised on a finding of bad faith ... such hastiness would have been better addressed by way of a Rule 11 motion for sanctions”
Check the case posture: Daly enters final judgment when the parties consent to magistrate jurisdiction, while dispositive work in referred cases proceeds by recommendation and district-judge action.
“This case was assigned to the undersigned for final disposition upon the parties’ full consent pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(c).”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“ADOPTS the Report in its entirety (Doc. 31); GRANTS the defendants' motion for summary judgment (Doc. 22); DISMISSES McKenney's claims in this case without prejudice for failure to exhaust administrative remedies”
“The Report and Recommendation (Doc. 31) is ADOPTED in its entirety, and Plaintiff's motion for sanctions (Doc. 26) is DENIED.”
“Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment is DENIED.”
“ADOPTS the Report and Recommendation in its entirety. Defendants' Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Prosecution (Doc. 24) is DENIED.”
“it is RECOMMENDED that this case be DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE for Plaintiff's failure to prosecute.”
“the Court finds no clear error in Judge Daly's findings, analysis and conclusions, and adopts her Report and Recommendation in its entirety. ... Plaintiff's motion to remand (Doc. 12) is DENIED.”
“Defendant Crane are DISMISSED without prejudice. Count 1 against Defendant McClanahan”
“(Doc. 63) is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. The following claims are DISMISSED”
“Alternatively, to Enter Summary Judgment (Doc. 24) is DENIED as premature”
“is GRANTED and this case is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“disability benefits is REVERSED and REMANDED to the Commissioner for rehearing and”
“Defendant Craig Richert (Count 1) is DISMISSED with prejudice.”
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