Cristina D. Silva
How Judge Silva rules, drawn from 21 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Silva
Cristina Dionne Silva is a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. Appointed by President Joseph R. Biden, Judge Silva received a commission on April 7, 2022.
How Judge Silva decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
In Johnson v. PAM Specialty Hospital of Las Vegas, LLC, she remanded after finding the amount in controversy too uncertain to support removal.
“This case presents the sort of ‘close call’ that ultimately requires that I grant Johnson’s motion for remand.”
In a boxing-promotion contract dispute, Silva compelled arbitration and stayed the lawsuit while granting interim relief to preserve the parties’ position until an arbitrator could act. The separate request to dismiss the suit was denied.
“but this action is stayed through the completion of arbitration pursuant to § 3 of the FAA.”
In the Verdugo-Carrasco immigration habeas case, she ordered release after finding that re-detention without the required opportunity to contest it violated due process.
“respondents failed to comply with its own regulations, I find petitioner’s Fifth Amendment due 13 process rights were violated, so I grant the petition on the first claim.”
Cautions
In Johnson v. PAM Specialty Hospital of Las Vegas, LLC, she found that an unexplained seven-week delay weighed against allowing supplemental briefing.
“Absent an explanation for the delay, however, I do not consider seven weeks to be quick.”
In the Sky Law fee dispute, she found that litigating dismissal and discovery before seeking arbitration waived the asserted right to arbitrate.
“The totality of the circumstances demonstrates that 9 Padda Law waived any alleged right it may have had to arbitrate.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Beazley moves for summary judgment on all five counts. ECF No. 20. The motion is fully briefed. For the following reasons, I grant summary judgment in favor of Beazley and kindly direct the Clerk of Court to close this case.”
“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that defendants' 24 motion to dismiss is GRANTED. The Clerk of Court is directed to enter judgment accordingly and to close this case.”
“ORDER granting in part and denying in part 53 Motion for Relief from Judgment. The court's dismissal of Ocasio's 2019 race and age discrimination claims stands. The court, however, grants Ocasio's motion regarding his 2019 retaliation claim; separately dismisses it for failure to state a claim; but permits Ocasio the opportunity file an amended complaint concerning his 2019 retaliation claim only.”
“ORDER Granting 10 Motion to Dismiss. ORDER Granting 17 Motion to Dismiss. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that all claims against defendants 2011 Nevada State Assembly Members and 2011 Nevada State Senate Members are DISMISSED under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m) for failure to serve. The Clerk of Court is directed to enter judgment accordingly and CLOSE THIS CASE.”
“ORDER Granting 22 Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment and Closing Case. IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED, the Clerk of the Court enter judgment accordingly and CLOSE THIS CASE.”
“ORDER granting 23 Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment and Denying 27 Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment.”
“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that GNLV's motion for summary judgement [ECF No. 24] is DENIED. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that GNLV's request that I find as a matter of law that Drowns was comparatively negligent is DENIED. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that GNLV's request that I find as a matter of law that Drowns failed to mitigate his damages is DENIED.”
“ORDER Granting 9 Motion to Remand to State Court. Signed by Judge Cristina D. Silva on 7/10/2024.”
“ORDER granting in part and denying in part 19 Motion to Dismiss as follows: (1) ground 1 is technically exhausted and procedurally defaulted, and I defer consideration of whether Scott can demonstrate cause and prejudice under Martinez to overcome the procedural default of ground 1 until after the filing of an answer and reply in this action, and (2) ground 6 is cognizable but unexhausted.”
“IT IS ORDERED that respondents' 44 motion to dismiss is DENIED. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that respondents have until September 11, 2024, to file an answer to the petition.”
“ORDER granting 129 Motion for Summary Judgment; ORDER denying as moot 139 Motion for Reconsideration. The Clerk of Court is instructed to enter judgment accordingly and CLOSE THIS CASE.”
“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Borenstein's motion to strike ECF No. 466 is GRANTED. TAF is directed to refile by November 19, 2024, the same motion for summary judgment that was filed on June 21, 2024 found at ECF No. 432. Any response by Borenstein is due twenty-one days after the motion is docketed. Any reply by TAF is due seven days after the response is docketed. The Clerk of Court is instructed to strike ECF No. 432.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The reviewed docket spans insurance, employment, civil-rights, product-liability, and bankruptcy matters, often involving self-represented litigants. Several terminated cases ended through stipulated or voluntary dismissal, while one product-liability case was transferred into multidistrict litigation without a merits ruling. Case durations are calculated from filing and termination dates.
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of United States District Court for the District of Nevada, not for Judge Silva: median time from filing to disposition of the civil cases the court closed in the 12 months ending September 30, 2025, as reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
| Cases | Median time | |
|---|---|---|
| All civil cases closed | 2,100 | 8 months |
| Closed with no court action | 290 | 5.4 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 1,769 | 8.4 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 28 | 8 months |
| Closed during trial | 13 | 62 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 2,100 | 8 months |
| Sep 2024 | 2,177 | 8.5 months |
| Sep 2023 | 2,000 | 8.4 months |
| Sep 2022 | 2,030 | 8.8 months |
| Sep 2021 | 2,291 | 8.6 months |
| Sep 2020 | 2,392 | 10.4 months |
| Sep 2019 | 2,679 | 11.5 months |
The table leaves out prisoner petitions, land condemnations, deportation reviews, recovery of overpayments and enforcement of judgments, and reports no median for fewer than 10 cases. A district that closed a large multidistrict litigation in the period shows very large counts and long medians for that year. Source: Table C-5, U.S. District Courts (spreadsheet).
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