Gretchen Suzanne Lund

How Judge Lund rules, drawn from 10 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Court
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana
Position
district
Appointed by
Joe Biden (Democratic)
Commissioned
2024-01-29
Education
Butler University (B.A., 1998); Valparaiso University School of Law (J.D., 2001)
Signed orders read
10

How Judge Lund decides

Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

What persuades

On employment-discrimination summary-judgment motions Lund grants the defense where the plaintiff cannot meet the legitimate-expectations element or identify a similarly situated comparator (McDonnell Douglas/Ortiz), and where alleged harassment is neither severe nor pervasive.

“The Court hereby GRANTS the Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment [DE 41]. The Court DIRECTS the Clerk of Court to enter judgment against Plaintiff and in favor of the Defendants. The Plaintiff takes nothing by her Complaint.”

On state-law claims at the pleading stage, she tests each required legal interest and mental-state element against concrete factual allegations; an expected inheritance did not supply a vested property interest, and conclusory self-dealing allegations did not plead conversion intent or fraud.

“For these reasons, Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss [DE 23] is GRANTED without prejudice. The Court DIRECTS the Clerk of Court to DISMISS this case and enter judgment accordingly.”

Procedural preferences

She enforces Local Rule 56-1: where the nonmovant fails to controvert the movant's statement of material facts with record citations and files an improper affidavit, she accepts the movant's facts as true.

“The Court hereby GRANTS Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment. [DE 19]. The Court DIRECTS the Clerk of Court to enter judgment against Plaintiff and in favor of Defendant. Plaintiff takes nothing by his Complaint.”

In prisoner screening, she allowed amendment when a deficient complaint might be curable, but dismissed after the amended complaint repeated defects and further amendment would be futile. A request for preliminary relief also failed when the operative complaint stated no viable claim.

“For these reasons, the court: (1) DENIES Hale’s Motion for Response (ECF 21); and (2) DISMISSES this case under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A.”

In patent litigation, she enforces the specificity and supplementation duties in the local patent rules. Reconsideration does not rescue theories that were not timely disclosed when the facts became known, and previously available evidence is not newly discovered evidence.

“Par-Kan did not comply with the Court’s local patent rules, nor did it try to do so when it could have.”

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

Patino v. Sandy Pines Golf Club
4:22-cv-00038-GSL · 2024-09-03
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted

“The Court hereby GRANTS the Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment [DE 41]. The Court DIRECTS the Clerk of Court to enter judgment against Plaintiff and in favor of the Defendants. The Plaintiff takes nothing by her Complaint.”

Augustynski v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc.
2:22-cv-00103-GSL · 2024-07-18
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted

“both Defendant Assemblers' Motion for Summary Judgment [DE 47] and Defendant Home Depot's Motion for Summary Judgment [DE 53] are GRANTED. The Court DIRECTS the Clerk of Court to enter judgment against the Plaintiffs in favor of the Defendants. The Plaintiffs take nothing by his complaint.”

Szczepanski v. Dana, Inc.
1:22-cv-00318-GSL · 2024-07-31
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted

“The Court hereby GRANTS Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment. [DE 19]. The Court DIRECTS the Clerk of Court to enter judgment against Plaintiff and in favor of Defendant. Plaintiff takes nothing by his Complaint.”

Voluntary dismissal (plaintiff) Moot / procedural

“In his Response, Plaintiff agrees to ‘dismiss his race claim with prejudice.’ [DE 25, page 1]. No further analysis by the Court is necessary.”

Hart v. Harper
2:24-cv-00019-GSL-JEM · 2025-02-07
Motions to dismiss (defendants) Granted

“For these reasons, Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss [DE 23] is GRANTED without prejudice. The Court DIRECTS the Clerk of Court to DISMISS this case and enter judgment accordingly.”

Hale v. Smiley
3:25-cv-00067-GSL-JEM · 2025-03-12
Preliminary injunction (plaintiff) Denied

“For these reasons, the court: (1) DENIES Alex L. Hale’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction (ECF 11); (2) GRANTS Alex L. Hale until April 15, 2025, to file an amended complaint;”

Hale v. Smiley
3:25-cv-00067-GSL-JEM · 2025-04-25
Motion for miscellaneous relief (plaintiff) Denied

“For these reasons, the court: (1) DENIES Hale’s Motion for Response (ECF 21); and (2) DISMISSES this case under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A.”

McCurty v. Commissioner of Social Security
1:25-cv-00201-GSL · 2026-08-19
Social security appeal (plaintiff) Denied

“For the foregoing reasons, the Court ADOPTS the report and recommendation, [DE 28], over Plaintiff’s objections and in its entirety, and the Commissioner’s decision is AFFIRMED.”

Chen v. University of Notre Dame
3:26-cv-00301-GSL-SJF · 2026-08-13
Motion to disqualify judge (plaintiff) Denied

“Plaintiff failed to meet the burden under either Section 455 or Section 144 to establish that recusal is necessary. As a result, Plaintiff’s Motion for Recusal, [DE 70], is DENIED.”

Unverferth Manufacturing Co. v. Par-Kan Co.
3:23-cv-00653-GSL-JEM · 2026-07-21
Motion for reconsideration (defendant) Denied

“For these reasons, the Court DENIES Par-Kan’s Motion for Reconsideration [DE 203].”

Whitted v. TransUnion, LLC
4:26-cv-00018-GSL-JEM · 2026-03-24
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“Accordingly, the Court ADOPTS Magistrate Judge Martin’s Report and Recommendation [DE 18] in full and GRANTS the Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Complaint [DE 9] and DISMISSES this case without prejudice.”

Draft for Judge Lund with the record in hand

Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Lund, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.

Opens in Ezel Pro.

  • Grounded in Judge Lund's own signed orders
  • Cites every source it relies on, so you can verify it
  • Chat, drafting and research in one workspace