Matthew Frederick Leitman
How Judge Leitman decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
Heavily uses the magistrate-judge referral system: many dispositive rulings are orders adopting an R&R. A party that fails to file timely, specific objections waives appellate review and releases the Court from independent review (Thomas v. Arn) -- so object promptly and specifically to preserve de novo review.
“The failure to file objections to an R&R waives any further right to appeal. ... Likewise, the failure to object to an R&R releases the Court from its duty to independently review the matter. See Thomas v. Arn, 474 U.S. 140, 149 (1985).”
When a defendant's motion to dismiss exposes a curable pleading defect, his standard move is to give the plaintiff an opportunity to file an amended complaint and then terminate the pending MTD as moot, rather than rule on the original MTD. Expect a chance to replead before a dispositive dismissal.
“The Court entered an order on February 11, 2020, in which it provided H.G. an opportunity to file an Amended Complaint to address the purported defects in the Complaint. ... H.G. has now filed an Amended Complaint. Accordingly, the Court TERMINATES AS MOOT AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Defendants’ initial motions to dismiss.”
Administratively terminates pending dispositive motions to push parties toward settlement, then reinstates the motion if settlement talks fail -- a docket-management tool, not a merits signal.
“On January 26, 2022, this Court issued an order administratively terminating Plaintiff’s pending motion to allow the parties to focus on settlement discussions. ... the Court has decided to reinstate Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment.”
Cautions
Will sharply warn pro se litigants who lodge baseless personal attacks on the court or magistrate judge, expressly raising the prospect of sanctions up to dismissal with prejudice -- keep filings substantive and professional.
“The Court warns Meier that if he continues to lodge wholly-meritless personal attacks upon Magistrate Judge Grand, he (Meier) will be subject to sanctions, up to and including dismissal of his claims with prejudice.”
Motion outcomes
Counted from classified signed orders only. Percentages are shown only where the sample is large enough to be meaningful; smaller samples are reported as raw counts.
| Motions to dismiss N = 5 |
Granted: 2Granted in part: 1Moot / procedural: 2 | counts only |
| Summary judgment N = 3 |
Granted: 1Denied: 2 | counts only |
| Motion to dissolve preliminary injunction N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
A "1 of 1" is one ruling, not a tendency. Treat small samples as illustrative, not predictive.
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Balian’s Motion to Dismiss for Failure to Serve Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m) (ECF #17) is GRANTED and (2) the claims against Balian are DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“the Court TERMINATES AS MOOT AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Defendants’ initial motions to dismiss (ECF Nos. 10, 11).”
“the Court TERMINATES AS MOOT AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Defendants’ initial motions to dismiss (ECF Nos. 10, 11).”
“Defendants’ motion to dismiss is GRANTED to the extent that Defendants seek dismissal of Plaintiff’s unfair competition claim in Count VII of the Amended Complaint. ... That claim is DISMISSED. ... Defendants’ motion to dismiss is DENIED in all other respects.”
“the recommended disposition of the R & R (ECF No. 32) is ADOPTED, and Meier’s Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 19) is DENIED.”
“Plaintiff's September 7, 2013, motion for summary judgment (ECF #9) is DENIED, and that Defendant's January 2, 2014, motion for summary judgment (ECF #12) is GRANTED.”
“Plaintiff's September 7, 2013, motion for summary judgment (ECF #9) is DENIED, and that Defendant's January 2, 2014, motion for summary judgment (ECF #12) is GRANTED.”
“Plaintiff’s Motion to Dismiss Defendant New Wave’s Counterclaims (ECF No. 35) is GRANTED. The now-pending counterclaims are DISMISSED. New Wave may may file a properly supported motion to amend and add new counterclaims.”
“Defendant’s Motion to Dissolve the Preliminary Injunction (ECF No. 61) is DENIED. This denial is without prejudice to New Wave’s ability to file a subsequent motion seeking relief from the preliminary injunction.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Nature-of-suit mix observed across his enumeration and the GovInfo civil dockets. Leitman carries a broad civil docket (trade secrets, trademark, FTC consumer-protection, qui tam, Social Security, civil rights, TVPRA) plus a heavy duty-docket load of search/seizure-warrant and miscellaneous applications (not counted as merits cases).