M. Page Kelley
How Judge Kelley rules, drawn from 28 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Kelley
M. Page Kelley has served as a U.S. magistrate judge for the District of Massachusetts since June 16, 2014. She served as chief magistrate judge from 2020 to 2023. She earned degrees from Smith College and Harvard Law School.
Judge Kelley's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Kelley, 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
File confidential mediation memoranda about one week before mediation and attend a telephone conference five days before it.
“Parties are to file their confidential memos approximately one week before the mediation and then a telephone conference is held five days before the mediation. The purpose of the telephone conference is to find out if the parties are ready for mediation, to make sure that an offer and counter-offer have been made before the mediation, to make sure that the necessary parties will attend the mediation, etc.”
Trial
In the pretrial submission, include witnesses, estimated trial length, legal issues, outstanding motions, and expected evidence.
“Yes, counsel should include a list of witnesses, expected length of trial, issues of law for the court to decide, list of outstanding motions, and synopsis of expected evidence.”
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 Kelley decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Wilborn’s parole-related civil-rights suit, she recommended denying dismissal after finding that the due process and equal protection claims met the pleading threshold.
“Neither the Favorable Termination Rule nor a theory of quasi-judicial immunity bars Plaintiff from pursuing this lawsuit under § 1983.”
In Julce, Kelley allowed narrowed discovery of the defendant’s financial records because they could bear on whether he had concealed assets.
“The Defendant’s financial records from July 2021 to the present are discoverable because they may show that he concealed assets.”
Procedural preferences
In Buote’s wrongful-death suit, she recommended denial of a dismissal motion without prejudice because the choice-of-law issue required a fuller factual record.
“For the reasons set forth above, the court recommends that Huntsman’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss (#6) be denied, without prejudice to the parties raising choice-of-law arguments after discovery.”
Cautions
In Kinuthia, she recommended dismissal of an employment-authorization-delay claim as moot after the requested document had been issued.
“Plaintiff has his EAD now and the court declines to recommend application of the capable of repetition, yet evading review exception or the voluntary cessation presumption.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Plaintiff has met the minimal pleading requirements to survive dismissal of his due process and equal protection claims for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6). Accordingly, I recommend that Defendants' motion to dismiss be denied.”
“I RECOMMEND that the Motion of Defendant Susan B. Whittaker for Summary Judgment on Plaintiff's ‘Complaint is a Civil Action’ (#78) be GRANTED.”
“I FURTHER RECOMMEND that Plaintiffs' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (#73) be DENIED.”
“the court recommends that defendant's Motion for a More Definite Statement and to Dismiss Plaintiff's Age Discrimination Claim, see #9 ... be denied.”
“that plaintiff's Motion for Sanctions, see #13, be denied.”
“For the reasons set forth above, the court recommends that defendant’s Partial Motion to Dismiss (#36) be allowed.”
“the court recommends that Huntsman's Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss (#6) be denied, without prejudice to the parties raising choice-of-law”
“For all of the foregoing reasons, Defendants' motion for summary judgment is DENIED in its entirety.”
“For all of the reasons stated, I RECOMMEND that Defendant Turco's Motion to Dismiss (#39) be ALLOWED.”
“For the reasons stated, I RECOMMEND that Defendants Thomas Turco, Bruce Gelb, Steven Silva and Matthew Valade's Motion To Dismiss (#121) be ALLOWED.”
“On March 3, 2023, the court dismissed on summary judgment defendants Lucheng Li's and Maoliang Fang's counterclaims for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing (Counterclaim II) and for violation of Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 93A (Counterclaim III).”
“The court ... allowed defendants' counterclaim for breach of contract (Counterclaim I) ... to proceed to trial and denied defendants' cross-motion for summary judgment on all of plaintiff Skinner, Inc.'s claims.”
“For the reasons stated above, defendants' motion to reconsider the court's order on the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment (#124) is denied.”
“For all of the reasons stated, I RECOMMEND that Defendants Bank of New York Mellon and Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings (#14) be ALLOWED as to Count I.”
“The court granted summary judgment in favor of the Union on Count III ... also granted summary judgment in favor of the Union on Counts V and VI ... granted summary judgment in favor of the School on Count IV ... [and] granted summary judgment in favor of a fourth defendant, Suffolk Construction Co. [while five counts] are proceeding to trial.”
“For the reasons above, #90 is denied, except that the School may renew the ERISA preemption argument, if appropriate.”
“After a review of the objections, I adopt the report and recommendation and dismiss the claims with prejudice except the Title VII claim in count II which will be dismissed unless plaintiff, who is pro se, amends it to meet the deficiencies outlined by the magistrate judge within 30 days.”
“I RECOMMEND that Defendants Massachusetts Trial Court and the Boston Housing Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts's Motion to Strike Plaintiff's Proposed Second Amended Complaint and for Dismissal of the Remaining Title VII Claim (#57) be ALLOWED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 369 days (N = 4).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 221 days (N = 4).
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, not for Judge Kelley: 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 | 2,682 | 7.3 months |
| Closed with no court action | 1,095 | 3.8 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 881 | 7.1 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 676 | 17.4 months |
| Closed during trial | 30 | 34.8 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 2,682 | 7.3 months |
| Sep 2024 | 2,439 | 7.2 months |
| Sep 2023 | 2,756 | 9.1 months |
| Sep 2022 | 2,222 | 10.2 months |
| Sep 2021 | 2,582 | 12.2 months |
| Sep 2020 | 2,391 | 11.2 months |
| Sep 2019 | 4,438 | 23 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).
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