Gregory J. Fouratt
How Judge Fouratt decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
On prisoner pro se sec.1983 dockets, screens under 1915(e) before allowing discovery or substantive relief, and on a Rule 12(b)(6) cut dismisses incurable claims (criminal statutes with no private right of action; non-suable entities) WITH prejudice while giving individual-capacity claims one chance to replead with the required 'who did what to whom' specificity.
“it is particularly important in a sec.1983 action that the plaintiff 'make clear exactly who is alleged to have done what to whom, to provide each individual with fair notice as to the basis of the claim against him or her.'”
On Social Security appeals, applies Tenth Circuit step-five doctrine rigorously: the claimant bears the burden to identify an APPARENT vocational-expert / DOT conflict before Haddock v. Apfel requires the ALJ to investigate it, and ALJ scrivener's/citation errors are reviewed for harmlessness.
“Because Plaintiff did not identify an apparent conflict between the vocational expert's testimony and the DOT, the PFRD concluded that the ALJ was not required under Haddock to elicit further testimony”
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 remand N = 2 |
Denied: 2 | 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.
“Magistrate Judge Gregory J. Fouratt filed his Proposed Findings and Recommended Disposition ... in which he recommended that the decision of the Administrative Law Judge be affirmed. ... Plaintiff's Motion to Remand [ECF 24] is DENIED; and ... DISMISSING THIS CASE WITH PREJUDICE.”
“United States Magistrate Judge Gregory J. Fouratt's Proposed Findings and Recommended Disposition ... recommended that the Commissioner's final decision be affirmed. ... Plaintiff's Objections (Doc. 36) are OVERRULED and ... the PFRD (Doc. 35) is ADOPTED in its entirety. ... Plaintiff's Motion to Remand or Reverse Agency Decision (Doc. 27) is DENIED, and ... this case is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“Judge Fouratt examined Defendants' Partial Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 57) and recommends granting it in part ... Defendants' Partial Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 57) is GRANTED IN PART as follows: (1) ... DISMISSES WITH PREJUDICE Claim II brought under 18 U.S.C. 242 ... (2) ... DISMISSES WITHOUT PREJUDICE all claims against Defendants Romero, Ramirez, Chacon, Verrett, Garcia, Bourne, and Gallegos ... (3) ... DISMISSES WITH PREJUDICE all claims against CNMCF or NMCD”
“Plaintiff's Motion for Medical Examination and X-Ray Transport [ECF 9] is DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE. ... Before ordering discovery or substantive relief, the Court must screen the Amended Complaint ... pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1915(e).”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 442.5 days (N = 10).
Judge of record by consent on a steady stream of Social Security disability appeals (DIWC/DIWW Tit. II; SSID Tit. XVI; 42:405(g)) -- the docket spine; referral magistrate on prisoner sec.1983 and SS dockets (the reasoning layer); Las Cruces criminal duty (initial appearances, detention, border-zone misdemeanors). NOT a grant rate -- role/composition only.