Philip Pratt
Judge Pratt no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Pratt decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Pratt treated substantial control over client funds as a reason to apply fiduciary standards to an investment arrangement.
“the most accurate characterization of the foregoing circumstances is a commercial investment plan which, because of its feature of substantial control over a client’s funds, required that the Bank be charged with the higher standard of care associated with fiduciaries.”
He applied qualified immunity where the officer’s probable-cause judgment was objectively reasonable.
“Thus the defendant’s conduct was objectively reasonable, and he is shielded from § 1983 liability by the doctrine of qualified immunity.”
Procedural preferences
Pratt followed the prevailing federal approach permitting arbitration of federal securities claims.
“have ordered arbitration of claims under the 1934 Act and Rule 10(b)-5.”
On reconsideration, he required both a palpable defect and a showing that correcting it would change the disposition.
“The movant must not only demonstrate a palpable defect by which the Court and parties have been misled but also show that a different disposition of the case must result from a correction thereof.”
Cautions
Pratt treated a conflicting state remedy as displaced where Congress supplied the governing remedy and expressly preempted state law.
“remedy available under state law is surely preempted.”
He reserved forum-non-conveniens dismissal for rare cases involving material injustice.
“This is not one of those rare cases requiring dismissal pursuant to the doctrine of forum non conveniens.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the decision of the bankruptcy court is AFFIRMED.”
“ORDER VACATING ORDER AND OPINION APPOINTING TRUSTEE”
“the Motion to Withdraw and/or Suppress Publication of Opinion is DENIED.”
“The Motion to Review Taxation of Costs is, therefore, denied.”
“Accordingly, this Court GRANTS the defendant’s motion for summary judgment.”
“the court grants defendants’ motion to compel arbitration”
“orders this matter stayed for 90 days pending arbitration of the relevant claims.”
“the Bankruptcy Court’s ruling must be reversed. Judgment may enter for the appellant GMAC.”
“defendant’s motion is hereby granted.”
“Defendants’ motion to strike these allegations from the complaint is therefore granted.”
“Defendants’ motion to dismiss Count III is therefore granted.”
“the defendants are entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law”
“the taxpayers’ motions are denied, the government’s petitions for enforcement are granted, and the respondents are ordered to comply with the IRS summonses.”
“The decision of the Bankruptcy Court is AFFIRMED, and McLouth’s motion to deny petitioner’s right to jury trial is GRANTED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The 20 located historical case records were all terminated. Nature-of-suit fields were unavailable, and the six sampled timelines contained no retained entries, so this profile makes no docket-wide motion-rate or latency claim.
A historical record
Judge Pratt 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.