Brian Mark Cogan
How Judge Cogan rules, drawn from 29 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Cogan
Brian Mark Cogan is a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Judge Cogan received a commission on June 7, 2006. Judge Cogan assumed senior status on June 12, 2020.
Judge Cogan's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Cogan, as published on the court's website (checked October 8, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Conferences
Request an appearance adjournment in writing at least 48 hours in advance absent an emergency.
“Absent an emergency, a request for adjournment of a court appearance must be made in writing at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled appearance.”
Conferences
Make civil adjournment and extension requests by ECF letter, unless proceeding pro se.
“All requests for adjournments or extensions of time must be by ECF letter only (except for pro se litigants)”
Standing orders for every case in this court
Orders the court applies to all of its cases, whichever judge has them, as published on the court's website (checked October 10, 2026).
How Judge Cogan decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Ilahi, Cogan reviewed the unopposed motion to dismiss on its merits before granting it.
“Plaintiff has not opposed the motion, but the Court has reviewed its merits independently and determines that the motion should be granted.”
In Bergin, a Title VII religious-accommodation case, Cogan granted the employee summary judgment after finding her initial vaccine-exemption request sufficient and no undue hardship from granting it.
“there would have been no undue hardship in granting plaintiff’s religious accommodation request. First, defendant granted 555 religious accommodation requests (out of 937 applications)”
In Funk v. Belneftekhim, Cogan denied a limitations-based dismissal because the complaint alleged captivity, torture, and threats that could support equitable tolling.
“Because plaintiffs did not plead themselves out of court here, defendants’ motion to dismiss is denied.”
In Georgiou v. Harmon Stores, Cogan found concrete injury from delayed wages and followed Vega in recognizing a private right of action under New York’s wage-payment provisions.
“I will therefore follow Vega to hold that plaintiff has a private right of action under §§ 191 and 198(1-a), at least pending further instruction from the New York State courts.”
Procedural preferences
In Holmes v. NYC School Support Services, Cogan denied a motion to compel arbitration after finding that defendants had never pursued the investigation they treated as a prerequisite to arbitration.
“Accordingly, defendants have waived their right to arbitrate, and the Court denies defendants’ motion to compel arbitration and stay this suit.”
In Butler v. Coca-Cola Refreshments, Cogan described the premotion conference as effective oral argument on the anticipated summary-judgment motion.
“as I advised the parties at the premotion conference, the conference was effectively oral argument on defendant’s motion.”
In Butler, Cogan held that the discriminatory-termination claim counsel withdrew at the premotion conference could not be revived in the summary-judgment opposition.
“concessions made at the conference for the purpose of narrowing the issues in a case are fully binding in subsequent proceedings.”
Cautions
In Butler v. Coca-Cola Refreshments USA, Inc., he granted summary judgment on a retaliation claim where temporal proximity did not supply enough evidence of retaliatory motive.
“temporal proximity alone is rarely if ever enough to raise a factual issue of retaliation sufficient to prevent summary judgment.”
In Butler, Cogan found no admissible evidence linking the supervisor’s alleged conduct to unlawful discrimination or retaliation and granted the employer summary judgment.
“It remains the case that the ‘boss from hell’ has not, without more, violated federal law.”
In Tarnarider v. 21st Century Insurance, Cogan granted summary judgment after finding that affidavits of ordinary mailing practice established a presumption of receipt that the plaintiff’s denial did not rebut.
“once defendants demonstrate that they properly mailed the notice, plaintiff’s denial of receipt is immaterial.”
In Ilahi v. Bitter, he dismissed a suit seeking to compel adjudication of a delayed immigration benefit after finding that the delay did not establish an unreasonable agency action.
“There may be some case where an applicant is being singled out and treated arbitrarily for no apparent reason and the delay becomes redressable by mandamus or under the APA. But this is not that case.”
In Camargo Echea, Cogan granted a detention habeas petition and expressly questioned his earlier denial in Ajay after the Second Circuit issued Cunha.
“However, the Court did not have the benefit of Cunha’s guidance, which calls much of its prior reasoning into doubt.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the foregoing reasons, defendants' motion to dismiss the streamlined complaint is GRANTED.”
“Sun's motion to suppress [77] is granted in part and denied in part; Hu's motion to suppress [80] is denied.”
“Hu's motion to suppress [80] is denied.”
“For the foregoing reasons, plaintiffs’ motions for partial summary judgment and for postponement of agency action are granted.”
“Because plaintiffs have standing and their injury is ripe for review, the Government’s motion to dismiss is denied on those grounds, and I proceed to the merits.”
“For these reasons, defendant's motion to dismiss is denied.”
“Defendants' [231] motion to dismiss is denied and defendants' [233] motion in limine is granted in part and denied in part.”
“Defendants’ [6] motion to dismiss is therefore granted.”
“For the foregoing reasons, defendants’ motion to dismiss plaintiff’s second amended complaint is granted. Further leave to amend is denied. The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to enter judgment and to close the case.”
“Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment [26] is granted and defendant’s motion for summary judgment [27] is denied.”
“the City’s motion for summary judgment on Pastrana’s Fourteenth Amendment claim is granted.”
“Defendants’ motion [24] motion for summary judgment is granted. The Clerk is directed to enter judgment dismissing the complaint.”
“Defendant’s motion for summary judgment [32] is granted, and the case is dismissed.”
“Plaintiffs’ motion [47] for partial summary judgment is granted in part and denied in part.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 45 days (N = 19).
- As a senior judge (since June 2020) his current intake is dominated by a spring 2026 surge of alien-detainee habeas petitions under 28 U.S.C. 2241, mixed with Social Security, consumer-credit, ADA public-accommodation, FLSA, product-liability, foreclosure, and insurance matters, plus criminal cases.
- A sampled 2018-2019 cohort of terminated civil dockets resolved very fast (many pro se and in forma pauperis cases closed within about six weeks).
Pending matters in the official report
Reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts under the Civil Justice Reform Act, as of March 31, 2026.
| Motions pending more than six months | 4 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 7 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 4 | 7 |
| Sep 2025 | 7 | 8 |
| Mar 2025 | 18 | 6 |
| Sep 2024 | 29 | 13 |
| Mar 2024 | 51 | 19 |
| Sep 2023 | 52 | 18 |
| Mar 2023 | 57 | 14 |
| Sep 2022 | 51 | 17 |
| Mar 2022 | 36 | 16 |
| Sep 2021 | 8 | 20 |
| Mar 2021 | 10 | 13 |
| Sep 2020 | 8 | 8 |
A snapshot on that date: matters listed may since have been decided or reassigned. A motion referred to a magistrate judge is counted for both judges. Motions in multidistrict litigation, section 2255 cases and Social Security appeals are not counted, and a very large three-year count is generally a multidistrict docket. Source: Appendix A of the report (PDF); about the report.
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, not for Judge Cogan: 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 | 7,392 | 6.7 months |
| Closed with no court action | 1,485 | 3 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 5,022 | 6.9 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 835 | 13.9 months |
| Closed during trial | 50 | 49.6 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 7,392 | 6.7 months |
| Sep 2024 | 7,879 | 5.8 months |
| Sep 2023 | 7,746 | 5.1 months |
| Sep 2022 | 7,588 | 6.2 months |
| Sep 2021 | 6,709 | 7.9 months |
| Sep 2020 | 6,062 | 8.6 months |
| Sep 2019 | 6,858 | 8.1 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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