Leo I. Brisbois
How Judge Brisbois decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
On a motion to suppress he makes a live credibility determination and holds to it: in US v. Stewart he credited the trooper's reasonable-suspicion testimony over the defendant's claim that the squad-car video refuted it, and the district judge -- after independently reviewing the video on de novo review -- found his recommendation 'both factually and legally correct.' His suppression findings are built on the hearing record.
“the Court finds no reason to depart from the Magistrate Judge's recommendations, which are both factually and legally correct. The Magistrate Judge thoroughly considered the squad car video and the purported discrepancies.”
He runs tight pretrial management on his consent cases (Duluth): a prompt scheduling order with dispositive-motion deadlines, an early settlement conference, and he absorbs cross-MSJs onto his own calendar on consent. In Brill v. Mid-Century he held the motion hearing and then issued a final merits ruling resolving a contested underinsured-motorist coverage dispute -- granting the insurer's MSJ and capping recovery at $147,000.
“ORDER granting 14 Motion for Summary Judgment; denying 20 Motion for Summary Judgment. Defendant is obligated to pay $147,000.00 to Plaintiff as recoverable underinsured motorist coverage benefits on account of the September 27, 2015, death of Richard Brill.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendant's Motion to Suppress (Doc. No. [21]) is DENIED.”
“Defendant Hoff's Motion to Dismiss [Doc. No. 19] is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part, and Plaintiff's claims against Defendant Hoff (Counts 1, 2, and 4) are DISMISSED with prejudice;”
“Defendant JACC's Motion to Dismiss [Doc. No. 64] is GRANTED, and Plaintiff's claims against Defendant JACC (Counts 1 and 2) are DISMISSED with prejudice;”
“Defendant Schooler's Motion to Dismiss [Doc. No. 53] is GRANTED, and Plaintiff's claim against Defendant Schooler (Count 3) is DISMISSED without prejudice;”
“Plaintiff's Motion to Amend Complaint [Doc. No. 171] is DENIED in its entirety, except as to Defendant McDonald, whose summary judgment motion remains under advisement;”
“Defendant Schooler's Motion for Rule 11 Sanctions [Doc. No. 122] is GRANTED.”
“Petitioner William Charles Graham's Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, (Dkt. 1), is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“Petitioner's Motion for Temporary Restraining Order, (Dkt. 11), is DENIED.”
“Plaintiff's Motion to Remand Case to Bankruptcy Court [Docket No. 35] is GRANTED, and this matter is REMANDED to the Bankruptcy Court.”
“Defendant's Motion to Suppress Statements [Docket No. 26] is DENIED”
“Defendant's Motion to Suppress Evidence Obtained by Search and Seizure [Docket No. 27] is DENIED.”
“The Court agrees with the R&R that this claim should be dismissed without prejudice... The Court agrees with the R&R that this claim should be dismissed with prejudice.”
“The Court agrees with the R&R that this claim should be dismissed without prejudice... The Court concludes that this claim should be dismissed with prejudice.”
“Plaintiff's Motion to Strike, Motion for Default Judgment, and Motion for Production of Documents (ECF Nos. 76, 84, 85) are DENIED AS MOOT.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Brisbois's the docket records footprint is dominated by referral work on Duluth-division civil and criminal cases (insurance, ERISA, contract, fraud, civil-rights, patent, criminal). On consent he handles full civil cases through final judgment. Example consent case: Brill v. Mid-Century Insurance filed 2017-09-25, terminated 2019-02-04 (~497 days; an underinsured-motorist coverage dispute resolved on cross-MSJ). Sampled 2026-06-03; not exhaustive; durations not fully tabulated this thin pass.
Put Judge Brisbois's record to work
Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Brisbois actually rules, not a generic AI guess.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Brisbois's own signed orders and cites them.