Eric Christian Tostrud
How Judge Tostrud decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Tostrud applies Noerr-Pennington rigorously in sham-litigation antitrust claims: a plaintiff must plausibly allege that the defendant's prior lawsuit was 'objectively baseless,' and a complaint that does not clear that bar is dismissed with prejudice. Counsel pleading a sham-litigation theory before him should plead specific facts showing objective baselessness, not merely bad motive.
“Olson has failed to allege facts in his Amended Complaint plausibly showing that the state-court case is objectively baseless.”
Tostrud will not grant summary judgment on a thin pre-discovery record where genuine fact questions remain, even when the movant presses a clean legal theory; he prefers to deny without prejudice and invite a renewed motion once the record is developed. A defendant moving early for summary judgment in his court risks a denial that is explicitly 'not the final word.'
“At least on this record, the better answer is that Allstate owed the estate a duty of good faith, and fact questions preclude a dispositive ruling that Allstate did not breach that duty.”
Tostrud declines to dismiss requests for injunctive relief at the pleading stage where the plaintiff has alleged plausible underlying claims, treating the availability of a remedy as a question better resolved later. A 12(b)(6) movant trying to strike a remedy prayer (rather than attacking the claim) should expect that argument to fail.
“courts on balance seem reticent to dismiss requests for injunctive relief at the pleading stage”
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 = 4 |
Granted: 1Granted in part: 1Denied: 1Moot / procedural: 1 | counts only |
| Summary judgment N = 2 |
Granted: 1Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motions to stay N = 1 |
Moot / procedural: 1 | counts only |
| Preliminary injunction N = 1 |
Moot / procedural: 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.
“Defendant Tennant Company's Motion to Dismiss [ECF No. 12] is DENIED.”
“PowerBlock's motion to dismiss [ECF No. 29] is GRANTED IN PART. Olson's claim for sham litigation monopolization and attempted monopolization in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, 15 U.S.C. § 2 (Count I) is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE. Olson's claim for tortious interference with business advantage (Count II) is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“PowerBlock's alternative motion to stay is DENIED AS MOOT.”
“Olson's motion for preliminary injunction [ECF No. 35] is DENIED AS MOOT.”
“PowerBlock's motion to dismiss [ECF No. 14] is DENIED AS MOOT.”
“Defendant Allstate Indemnity Company's Motion for Summary Judgment [ECF No. 11] is DENIED.”
“Defendants' Motion to Dismiss [ECF No. 35] is GRANTED. ... The Complaint [ECF No. 1] is DISMISSED with prejudice.”
“Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment [ECF No. 31] is GRANTED; ... Plaintiff's Complaint [ECF No. 1] is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 354 days (N = 2).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 81 days (N = 1).
Tostrud-assigned dockets seen this session via search_dockets (top 30, recency-weighted, NOT exhaustive): the current docket is dominated by recent (May-June 2026) filings -- a cluster of 463 Habeas Corpus - Alien Detainee petitions (Tovar-Cardozo v. Blanche, Wattara v. Brott, Flores Monrroy v. Blanche, Picazo Jimenez v. Blanche, Ortiz Diaz v. Stasko, Rodriguez-Sigala v. Warden FCI Sandstone), plus 440 Civil Rights (Venstar v. City of Rochester), 380 Personal Property (Urban/Crimando v. Walman Optical), 365 Product Liability (M.X. v. Snap, transferred out), 110 Insurance, and criminal matters (United States v. Healey 0:26-cr-00100). Older terminated civil cases analyzed for outcomes: Olson v. PowerBlock 0:21-cv-02713 (antitrust, terminated) and Petersen v. Allstate 0:22-cv-00976 (insurance, terminated). A deepening pass should enumerate the full docket with filed_before windows and sample older terminated civil cases for dispositive-motion outcomes and latency.