Stanley Richard Chesler
How Judge Chesler decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In first-party property-insurance disputes, enforces the policy's own appraisal clause: where the parties dispute the amount of loss (not merely coverage), the court will direct appraisal and appoint an umpire if the appraisers cannot agree, and will not let unresolved coverage/liability issues delay that process because appraisers determine only the amount of loss, not liability.
“even if outstanding liability issues exist, there is no reason to delay determining the amount of the loss in the meantime, as appointing an umpire will in no way prevent Defendant from contesting liability later on”
Procedural preferences
Strict on the Rule 12(b)(6) scope: will not consider a movant's assertion that a complaint's allegations are 'false' or material outside the pleadings, because on a motion to dismiss the well-pleaded facts are accepted as true and review is limited to the complaint, exhibits, public records, and undisputedly authentic documents.
“The truth or falsity of factual allegations is not, however, a question properly before the Court on a motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).”
Reply-brief waiver, applied functionally: a new argument raised for the first time in a reply brief is disregarded when the opponent had no meaningful chance to respond (StrikeForce), but the same kind of late argument WILL be reached where the opponent in fact filed sur-replies addressing it (Perez). The operative concern is opportunity to respond, not a mechanical bar.
“New arguments raised for the first time in a reply brief may be disregarded by the Court.”
Cautions
Reconsideration is confined to three grounds (intervening change in controlling law, newly available evidence, or clear error/manifest injustice) and is not a vehicle for reargument; repeating points already considered will fail.
“Plaintiff presents nothing new in these points, nothing that this Court has overlooked: it is all reargument.”
Will not impose Rule 11 sanctions merely because an opponent's arguments are unpersuasive or on the losing side; sanctions are reserved for exceptional circumstances of abuse of the legal process.
“the target is abuse -- the Rule must not be used as an automatic penalty against an attorney or a party advocating the losing side of a dispute.”
In civil forfeiture, applies Article III and statutory standing strictly: a claim/answer must be signed by the claimant under penalty of perjury per Supplemental Rule G(5); a signature by counsel alone does not suffice and will be stricken.
“Mr. DiMarco's signature does not suffice, as he is not 'the claimant.'”
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 = 3 |
Granted: 2Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Summary judgment N = 2 |
Granted: 1Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motions to strike N = 1 |
Granted: 1 | counts only |
| Default judgment N = 1 |
Granted: 1 | counts only |
| Motion for relief from judgment N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motion for reconsideration N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motion for sanctions N = 1 |
Denied: 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.
“ORDERED that Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment in part for the appointment of an umpire [ECF 89] is hereby GRANTED”
“ORDERED that Defendant's motion for summary judgment [ECF 88] is hereby DENIED.”
“the Court will strike Mr. Banda's Answer, and will accordingly grant summary judgment for the Government.”
“the Court will strike Mr. Banda's Answer and enter default judgment in favor of the Government.”
“the motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint will be denied.”
“ORDERED that Plaintiff's motion for relief pursuant to Rule 60(b)(6) (Docket Entry No. 39) is DENIED”
“ORDERED that Defendants' motion to dismiss (Docket Entry No. 40) is GRANTED, and the Complaint is hereby DISMISSED with prejudice.”
“The motion to dismiss will be granted, and the Complaint will be dismissed with prejudice.”
“Plaintiff has shown no basis for reconsideration. The motion for reconsideration will be denied.”
“There is no basis to find that Plaintiff abused the legal process in seeking reconsideration. The motion for sanctions will be denied.”