Peter Jo Messitte
How Judge Messitte rules, drawn from 27 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Messitte no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Messitte
Peter Jo Messitte was a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. Appointed by President William J. Clinton, Judge Messitte received a commission on October 20, 1993. Judge Messitte assumed senior status on September 1, 2008 and served until death on January 11, 2025.
How Judge Messitte decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Davis Construction, Messitte applied the existing diversity rule while openly identifying the policy anomaly it produced.
“It makes no sense to treat an unincorporated insurance company differently from, say, an incorporated manufacturer for purposes of diversity jurisdiction.”
In Roe, he tested the statutory phrase against whether the supposed government badge actually existed.
“one might also ponder how it is possible to have a ‘colorable imitation’ of a badge, in this case a NASA ”police” badge, that does not exist.”
In Dorsey, he found the employee settlements voluntary and unsupported by evidence of wrongful interference.
“Home Depot engaged in no wrongful conduct in pursuing the settlements and Dorsey has alleged and proved none.”
Procedural preferences
In Cohn, Messitte questioned procedure that had delayed the underlying foreclosure rather than advancing it.
“It is hard to resist the temptation to question why this case has proceeded as it has.”
In Zell, he stressed that a pleading-stage motion required acceptance of the plaintiff’s allegations.
“the Court is obliged to accept Zell’s allegations as true.”
In IA Labs, he required a judgment debtor seeking a stay to provide adequate security.
“this Court rejects as adequate security two assets that have an exceedingly indeterminate value”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The decision of the Bankruptcy Court is therefore REVERSED.”
“ECentury’s Motion in Opposition to the Receiver’s Recommended Disposition of Claims is DENIED.”
“the Court GRANTS Swonger’s Renewed Motion for Summary Judgment [Document No. 89] as to all Counts.”
“the decision of the Bankruptcy Court is AFFIRMED”
“the decision of the Bankruptcy Court is AFFIRMED in its entirety”
“Defendant’s Motion for Remand is DENIED;”
“Defendant Home Depot’s Supplemental Motion for Summary Judgment (Paper No. 66) is GRANTED;”
“Defendant John Alvin Roe’s Motion for Judgment of Acquittal as to Count Two of the Indictment is GRANTED.”
“Plaintiffs Motion for Conditional Class Certification [Paper No. 14] and Plaintiffs Supplement to Motion for Conditional Class Certification [Paper No. 23] are DENIED.”
“the Federal Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Zell’s Title VII claims is DENIED.”
“Plaintiffs Motion for Economic Damages [Paper No. 298] is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART;”
“Plaintiffs Motion for Injunctive Relief [Paper No. 297] is DENIED;”
“Plaintiffs Motion for the Court to Take Notice of New Legislation [Paper No. 353] is DENIED;”
“Plaintiffs Motion for the Court to take Judicial Notice of New Supreme Court Decision [Paper No. 372] is DENIED;”
“Plaintiffs Motion for Sanctions [Paper No. 363] is DENIED;”
“Defendant’s Motion to Strike [Paper No. 362] is MOOT.”
“the Court GRANTS WMATA’s Motion to Dismiss”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 174 days (N = 10).
A fixed sample of ten terminated historical cases included three contract matters, two Social Security matters, and one each involving prisoner civil rights, habeas, a federal construction-bond claim, employee benefits, and employment civil rights. None retained a motion-entry timeline.
Pending matters in the official report
Judge Messitte was last listed in the Civil Justice Reform Act report as of March 31, 2025.
| 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 | 0 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 2 | 8 |
| Mar 2024 | 4 | 18 |
| Sep 2023 | 1 | 10 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 7 |
| Sep 2022 | 1 | 6 |
| Mar 2022 | 5 | 7 |
| Sep 2021 | 6 | 7 |
| Mar 2021 | 7 | 5 |
| Sep 2020 | 9 | 3 |
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.
A historical record
Judge Messitte no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.