Kathleen L. DeSoto
How Judge DeSoto decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
DeSoto treats standing and subject-matter jurisdiction as threshold, case-ending questions, and will not reach the merits of a pro se plaintiff's constitutional theory once jurisdiction is lacking -- generalized public grievances do not satisfy Article III's particularized-injury requirement.
“The generalization that all Montanans were harmed by the Governor's Directives is insufficient to establish an injury in fact or a causal connection, and instead requires the Court to engage in ‘pure speculation’.”
In Social Security appeals, DeSoto will affirm even where she can identify a possible error in the ALJ's exertional-level finding, if the vocational expert's alternative job identification independently supports the same non-disability conclusion -- she looks for harmless error before reversing.
“The Court has also determined that even if the ALJ erred in finding Plaintiff capable of medium work instead of light work... any error was harmless because the jobs identified by the vocational expert at step five involved light-level work.”
DeSoto distinguishes an incurable pleading defect from a curable procedural one when a pro se plaintiff's federal claims fail on a structural ground (here, that the defendants were private actors, not state actors): she dismisses those claims with prejudice and without leave to amend as futile, while dismissing a merely unexhausted or jurisdictionally-dependent claim without prejudice in the same order.
“Judge DeSoto found that granting Weik leave to amend his claims under §§ 1983, 1985, and 1988 would be futile and therefore, those claims should be dismissed with prejudice and without leave to amend.”
Procedural preferences
DeSoto dismisses claims piecemeal rather than all-or-nothing on a motion to dismiss: she will grant dismissal of claims that are procedurally time-barred while declining to dismiss claims that turn on genuinely disputed facts (like the actual scope of a police search), leaving those for later stages.
“IT IS RECOMMENDED that Defendants' Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 8) Counts III and IV be GRANTED, and be DENIED as to all other claims as discussed above.”
On official-capacity Section 1983 claims that duplicate a claim already pending against the employing municipality, DeSoto follows the weight of District of Montana authority and dismisses the individual-capacity officials as redundant, even where the plaintiffs seek only prospective injunctive relief rather than damages.
“Because Plaintiffs' claims against the Individual Defendants are duplicative of their claims against the City of Billings, the Individual Defendants are properly dismissed.”
Cautions
DeSoto treats a party's failure to timely respond to a motion under the local rules as effectively conceding it: an unopposed motion to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction will be granted as an admission that the motion is well-taken, independent of the merits analysis.
“Consistent with the applicable Local Rule, the Court takes Old Bull's failure to file a response brief as an admission that Klier's motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction is well-taken.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“IT IS RECOMMENDED that Bullock's Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 10) be GRANTED, and this case be DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“Reviewing de novo, the Court reaches the same conclusions as Judge DeSoto... Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that Judge DeSoto's Findings and Recommendation (Doc. 66) is ADOPTED in full... The Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 55) is GRANTED; Plaintiff's Cross-motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Doc. 58) is DENIED.”
“IT IS RECOMMENDED that Defendants' Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 8) Counts III and IV be GRANTED, and be DENIED as to all other claims as discussed above.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the Commissioner's decision is affirmed.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the Commissioner's decision is AFFIRMED.”
“Judge DeSoto found that Defendants and Counterclaim Plaintiffs—Richard Hermanns and Hermanns Family Holdings Corporation (collectively, “Hermanns”) are entitled to summary judgment as to Plaintiffs Daniel and Christy Silbermanns’ claims against Hermanns... Defendants Nanette F. Wise, Kathleen R. Dodd, and New West Investments (“Realtors”) were entitled to summary judgment as to all of the Silbermanns’ claims against them.”
“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Rhodes's Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 5) is DENIED.”
“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Sheriff's Department's Rule 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 4) be DENIED as moot.”
“Defendants' Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 4) is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART”
“Defendants' Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim (Doc. 38) is GRANTED, in part, and DENIED, in part.”
“Judge DeSoto found that granting Weik leave to amend his claims under §§ 1983, 1985, and 1988 would be futile and therefore, those claims should be dismissed with prejudice and without leave to amend.”
“Mr. Reber's Petition (Doc. 1) should be DISMISSED with prejudice as procedurally defaulted without excuse.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median motion-to-ruling time: 105 days (N = 6).
DeSoto's enumerated docket includes a sustained run of consent-track Social Security disability appeals across her entire tenure (2019 through her current 2024-2026 caseload), alongside diversity insurance and contract suits, prisoner civil-rights cases, general civil-rights litigation, and environmental/administrative-law challenges. Eleven Social Security appeals sampled across her tenure were fully briefed or resolved by an agency remand motion and decided by DeSoto herself under 636(c) consent, split between reversals/remands for further agency proceedings and affirmances of the Commissioner's denial of benefits.
Put Judge DeSoto's record to work
Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge DeSoto actually rules, not a generic AI guess.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge DeSoto's own signed orders and cites them.