Abizer Zanzi
How Judge Zanzi rules, drawn from 9 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Zanzi
Abizer Zanzi became a United States Magistrate Judge in the Northern District of Indiana in May 2024. He previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Hammond and clerked for District Judge Philip P. Simon.
Judge Zanzi's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Zanzi, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Conferences
To seek exemption from mediation, move or raise the issue at a status conference.
“If the parties wish to be excused of the mediation requirement, one or both parties should file a motion or raise the issue at a status conference.”
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 9, 2026).
How Judge Zanzi decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Riffett v. Bisignaro, he reversed and remanded after the ALJ excluded a consultative report as potentially fraudulent without giving the claimant a chance to respond to the concern that it had been signed after the examining doctor's death.
“There is nothing in the record indicating that Riffett’s attorney was given the opportunity to respond before or after the ALJ’s conclusion.”
A symptom the ALJ concedes exists cannot simply be noted and dropped: if it plausibly bears on a claimant's ability to sustain full-time work, the decision must say what the ALJ did with it.
“If the ALJ discounted, discredited or had other reasons why Kratzman's asthma-induced fatigue did not change their RFC determination, the ALJ needed to say so.”
Procedural preferences
In Ackerman's Social Security appeal, Zanzi found no error in the ALJ's assessment of limitations where the claimant identified no underlying medical opinion evidence supporting greater restrictions.
“Plaintiff does not point to any other underlying evidence (beyond her own testimony), such as medical opinion evidence suggesting greater limitations, that she says the ALJ ignored. ... Without that, there is no error.”
In Corbett v. Bisignaro, Zanzi upheld the claimant’s waiver of representation because the agency had sent six written notices, obtained at least two signed forms, and reminded him of the right at both hearings.
“Corbett received the notice explaining his right to representation six times and signed at least two of those forms. He was reminded of his right at both hearings.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the reasons discussed, the Commissioner's decision is AFFIRMED, and the Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to enter judgment for the Defendant Commissioner of Social Security.”
“For the reasons discussed, the Commissioner's decision is REVERSED and REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
“The Court hereby DENIES the relief requested in Plaintiff Jason J. Corbett's Opening Brief [DE 10] and AFFIRMS the Commissioner's decision.”
“For the reasons discussed, the decision of the Commissioner is AFFIRMED, and the Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to enter judgment in favor of the Defendant.”
“For the reasons discussed, the Commissioner's decision is REVERSED and REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
“For the reasons discussed, the Court hereby DENIES the relief requested in Plaintiff Justin T. Cummings' Opening Brief [DE 18] and AFFIRMS the Commissioner's decision.”
“For the reasons discussed, the Court hereby DENIES the relief requested in Plaintiff Richard D. Dell's Opening Brief [DE 21] and AFFIRMS the Commissioner's decision.”
“For the reasons discussed, the Court disagrees with Dvorak's arguments and finds no reversible error by the ALJ. Accordingly, the Court will affirm the ALJ's written decision.”
“For the reasons discussed, the Court disagrees with Swango's arguments and finds no reversible error by the ALJ. Accordingly, the Court will affirm the ALJ's written decision.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 193 days (N = 5).
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 | 3 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 3 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
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 Indiana, not for Judge Zanzi: 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 | 1,338 | 8.5 months |
| Closed with no court action | 68 | 2.6 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 958 | 7.6 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 302 | 14.5 months |
| Closed during trial | 10 | 43.6 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 1,338 | 8.5 months |
| Sep 2024 | 1,336 | 8.5 months |
| Sep 2023 | 1,248 | 9.4 months |
| Sep 2022 | 1,434 | 12.5 months |
| Sep 2021 | 1,258 | 12.7 months |
| Sep 2020 | 1,408 | 11.8 months |
| Sep 2019 | 1,576 | 13.8 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 Zanzi with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Zanzi, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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