Carol Bagley Amon
How Judge Amon rules, drawn from 28 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Amon
Carol Bagley Amon is a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Appointed by President George H.W. Bush, Judge Amon received a commission on August 7, 1990. Judge Amon assumed senior status on November 30, 2016.
Judge Amon's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Amon, 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
Filing
Provide chambers hard copies of electronically filed papers longer than five pages.
“Hard copies of all papers filed electronically and exceeding five pages in length, including motions, letters, and stipulations, must be provided to Chambers.”
Conferences
Request an appearance adjournment at least 48 hours in advance absent an emergency.
“If the request is for an adjournment of a court appearance, it shall be made at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled appearance, absent an emergency.”
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 Amon decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Bartlett v. Société Générale de Banque au Liban, Amon denied Jammal Trust Bank's renewed sovereign-immunity motion. She found that central-bank supervision of the private bank's liquidation did not make it an organ of Lebanon and also found the pleaded conduct within the commercial-activities exception.
“The proper inquiry, therefore, is whether a private bank under the control of a foreign state’s central bank for the purpose of liquidation is an ‘organ’ of the foreign state. For the reasons set forth below, I find that JTB is not an agency or instrumentality of Lebanon.”
In Jeon v. The Pavilion at Queens for Rehabilitation & Nursing, she dismissed a discrimination complaint that alleged a demotion but neither protected-class membership nor facts supporting discriminatory motive, and allowed amendment.
“Although Jeon's demotion from full-time to part-time status may be 'sufficiently disadvantageous to be considered an adverse employment action,' ... Jeon fails to plead facts which 'give plausible support to the conclusion that the demotion occurred under circumstances giving rise to an inference of discrimination' ... because he does not allege that he is a member of a protected class.”
In a produce seller’s payment suit, she treated the statutory prompt-payment claim and the produce-trust claim as independent routes to relief. A missing trust-preservation notice did not defeat the separately pleaded prompt-payment claim or federal-question jurisdiction.
“PACA’s structure thus indicates that Section 499b and Section 499e(c) operate independently from and in addition to one another.”
Procedural preferences
In Saucedo v. On the Spot Audio Corp., she reviewed an unobjected-to magistrate recommendation for clear error, adopted it, and entered default judgment.
“The Court has reviewed the record and, finding no clear error, adopts the R&R as the opinion of the Court. Accordingly, the Court grants the plaintiffs motion for default judgment.”
In Aponte v. Buono, she declined more time to amend after the unrepresented plaintiff missed two deadlines set after a prior dismissal order.
“The plaintiff has now missed two deadlines to file an amended complaint, despite being in receipt of the Court’s order granting him leave to do so.”
In a terrorism case, she denied an immediate appeal of a personal-jurisdiction question that depended on case-specific facts about the defendant’s alleged support.
“its disagreement is essentially a factual question of how direct is direct enough.”
Cautions
In Aponte v. Buono, she rejected the plaintiff's claim of nonreceipt of a dismissal motion because the docket documented repeated service attempts and the plaintiff had attached the moving papers to a filing.
“If the plaintiff is suggesting that he was never properly served with the defendant's motion to dismiss (which the Court ultimately granted), this is simply not true. The docket sheet reflects that the defendant attempted to serve the plaintiff with her motion to dismiss numerous times”
In De La Rosa v. United States, she denied vacatur of a $3 million punitive award as a matter of law but ordered remittitur to $1.5 million.
“The jury awarded Plaintiff $3,000,000 in punitive damages. Defendants seek vacatur of this award as a matter of law. For the reasons stated below, I deny Defendant’s Rule 50(b) motion, but I grant remittitur and reduce the punitive damages to $1,500,000.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For these reasons, the Court grants Queens Rehab's motion to dismiss. Given his pro se status, Jeon is granted leave to amend his complaint within thirty (30) days of this Order.”
“The Court has reviewed the record and, finding no clear error, adopts the well-reasoned R&R as the opinion of the Court. Accordingly, the Court grants Defendants' motion to dismiss Picinich's amended complaint and hereby directs the Clerk of Court to close this case.”
“The Court has reviewed the record and, finding no clear error, adopts the R&R as the opinion of the Court. Accordingly, the Court grants the plaintiffs motion for default judgment. The Clerk of Court is directed to enter judgment against the defendants, jointly and severally, and in favor of the plaintiff: $141,045.73 in damages and interest, and $11,266 in attorney's fees and costs.”
“The Court has reviewed the thorough and careful R&R and the record and, finding no clear error, adopts Magistrate Judge Levy's recommendation as the opinion of the Court. Accordingly, as described above, Plaintiffs motion for default judgment is granted, and Plaintiff is awarded $41,666.35 (consisting of damages, attorney's fees, and costs), plus prejudgment interest calculated at a rate of nine percent per annum from February 4, 2014, to today, and postjudgment interest.”
“The Court has reviewed the record and, finding no clear error, adopts the well-reasoned R&R as the opinion of the Court. The Clerk of Court is directed to enter judgment accordingly.”
“The plaintiff's 'motion for a restraining order and stay of proceedings' is denied. The Clerk of the Court is instructed to enter judgment and close this case.”
“For the reasons stated above. Defendants' Motion to Compel Arbitration is GRANTED. The Court retains limited jurisdiction to enforce any award resulting from the arbitration.”
“Accordingly, the Court denies the motion for default judgment without prejudice to renewal, and grants the Plaintiffs leave to file an amended complaint that includes the claims of the Opt-in Plaintiffs.”
“Accordingly, plaintiffs motions are denied, with the exception that plaintiff's motion to substitute John Smith for John Doe No. 1 and dismiss the claims against the remaining John Does is granted.”
“Plaintiffs motion to remand the action to state court is therefore denied.”
“The petition is denied. No certificate of appealability shall issue because there has been no ‘substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right.’”
“She seeks a temporary restraining order (‘TRO’) preventing the defendants from terminating her employment... The Court declines to issue either the OTSC or the TRO.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 538 days (N = 8).
- A senior Eastern District of New York judge sitting in Brooklyn, still actively assigned despite taking senior status in 2016.
- A 2017-2020 sample mixes a substantial post-conviction and habeas load (motions to vacate under 28 U.S.C. 2255 and alien-detainee habeas) with a criminal docket and general civil matters: personal injury, FLSA labor, and consumer and ADA cases.
- Her written orders add Title VII employment discrimination, wage defaults, and commercial fraud.
- The mix is qualitative, drawn from case-level records.
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 | 0 |
| 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 | 11 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 11 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 7 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 8 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 11 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 9 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 14 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 18 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 21 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 24 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 28 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 24 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 28 |
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 Amon: 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).
Draft for Judge Amon with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Amon, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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