Katherine Marie Menendez
How Judge Menendez decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Menendez is reluctant to grant summary judgment where the non-movant (especially a pro se plaintiff) has not had a full and fair opportunity for discovery; she will deny without prejudice and grant leave to renew rather than resolve a thin record. Counsel moving early for summary judgment against a pro se party should expect the motion to be deferred until discovery is complete.
“the Court strongly disfavors the entry of summary judgment ... if there is any doubt that discovery has been conducted fully and fairly”
Menendez will decide a dispositive legal question (including preemption and statutory liability) as a matter of law on cross-motions when the material facts are undisputed, granting the plaintiff partial summary judgment on liability and leaving only damages for trial. She reads a causal-chain element functionally: an adverse action that 'flows directly from' a protected event is not 'independent' of it.
“the Court holds as a matter of law that BHI violated DATWA”
Even when dismissing claims, Menendez prefers to give a pro se plaintiff a path to cure: rather than dismissing a vaguely-pleaded Title VII claim, she orders a more definite statement and a chance to replead, while dismissing genuinely time-barred or non-curable claims (defamation) with prejudice. Defense counsel should expect repleading orders, not outright dismissal, on curable pleading defects.
“Ms. Kasso is ORDERED to file a Second Amended Complaint within 30 days ... or risk the dismissal of her Title VII claim”
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.
| Summary judgment N = 2 |
Denied: 2 | counts only |
| Motion for partial summary judgment N = 1 |
Granted: 1 | counts only |
| Motions to dismiss N = 1 |
Granted in part: 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.
“BHI's Motion for Summary Judgment [Dkt. No. 108] is DENIED.”
“Ms. Williams's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment [Dkt. No. 102] is GRANTED.”
“Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF 18) is DENIED.”
“Defendant's Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint or in the Alternative Motion for a More Definite Statement (ECF 37) is GRANTED; ... Ms. Kasso's Defamation Claim against Defendant is DISMISSED with prejudice; ... Ms. Kasso's Breach of Duty of Fair Representation Claim is DISMISSED without prejudice; and ... Ms. Kasso is ORDERED to file a Second Amended Complaint within 30 days”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 1095 days (N = 2).
Two terminated Menendez dockets enumerated this session, both 'Civil Rights: Jobs' (employment): Christiansen v. Honeywell (Title VII religious accommodation) and Williams v. BHI Energy (DATWA). Her reasoning-layer cases also include an LMRA/defamation union dispute (Kasso). A deepening pass should run search_dockets(assigned_judge='Menendez') with filed_before windows to characterize the full nature-of-suit mix and sample terminated cases whose docket holding includes the motion-filing entries (for latency).