William Charles Lee
Judge Lee no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Lee decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In CERCLA contribution disputes, he required proof that a settling party had actually admitted or been adjudicated liable before treating its cost-recovery claim as a time-barred contribution claim -- strict liability alone was not enough.
“Even though liability is strict under CERCLA, it is obvious that legal liability cannot attach until a party has either admitted liability or has been adjudicated as liable.”
On pollution exclusions in general-liability policies, he read the clause literally, holding that the relevant intent question is whether the discharge itself was deliberate, not whether the insured foresaw or intended the resulting damage.
“it is clear that the focus is on the act of discharging wastes and pollutants and not on the damage caused by that act.”
Procedural preferences
He enforced Local Rule 56.1's summary-judgment fact-statement requirements strictly, striking affidavit paragraphs -- even from a pro se prisoner-plaintiff -- that were not shown to be based on personal knowledge.
“Perrey has not shown a personal knowledge of Morrow's job responsibilities and paragraph 7 of his Affidavit will be stricken.”
Cautions
A concession made in a response brief was treated as dispositive: when a plaintiff offered to drop a claim, he entered dismissal of that claim with prejudice outright rather than simply denying the underlying motion as moot.
“Mudd states that he 'agrees to dismiss his Monell claims against the City of New Haven, with prejudice.' ... Accordingly, Mudd's claim against the City of New Haven is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
Long, unexplained delay in asserting a claim was treated as an independent bar to relief: on remand from the Seventh Circuit, he granted summary judgment for the City on laches grounds over a plaintiff's multi-year delay in seeking indemnification.
“the motion will be granted.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the reasons which follow, the order of the bankruptcy court will be reversed.”
“For the following reasons the Magistrate Judge's Order is REVERSED.”
“the third-party defendants' motion to reconsider is hereby DENIED.”
“the third-party defendants' alternative motion for certification of interlocutory appeal, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 1292(b) is also hereby DENIED.”
“summary judgment will be granted in favor of Home (and all joining defendants) on this issue.”
“summary judgment will be granted in favor of LMI on this issue.”
“the Government's motion to dismiss will be granted.”
“Braaksma's motion to dismiss will be granted.”
“the motion to strike will be granted”
“the Daniels' motion for summary judgment will be granted”
“the Plan Commission's motion for summary judgment will be denied.”
“the Defendants' motions to dismiss will be GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.”
“the Union's motion for summary judgment will be granted in part and denied in part”
“Saint-Gobain's cross-motion for summary judgment will be denied.”
“Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment with respect to the federal claims will be DENIED.”
“Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment will be GRANTED in part, and DENIED in part.”
“the plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment will be denied”
“the defendants' motion for summary judgment will be granted as to all federal claims.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median motion-to-ruling time: 18 days (N = 1).
Across the sampled cohorts, his caseload mixed employment discrimination, prisoner habeas and civil-rights, general contract and tort, insurance-coverage, and Social Security appeals. By his final years (2023), the great majority of his active docket was Social Security disability appeals, most resolved within a few months by the Commissioner's own unopposed motion for a sentence-four remand rather than by contested briefing.
A historical record
Judge Lee no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.