E. Thomas Boyle
How Judge Boyle rules, drawn from 22 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Boyle no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Boyle
E. Thomas Boyle served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York from 1995 through 2012. Before joining the bench, he worked in private practice, served as a public defender, and held public counsel positions in New York.
How Judge Boyle decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Post-verdict relief requires a record that clears a demanding evidentiary threshold; disagreement with the jury is not enough.
“movant seeking to set aside a jury verdict faces a ‘high bar.’”
In Pall Corp. v. Cuno, Boyle found an at-issue privilege waiver when the patent holder invoked counsel's mental impressions to support a good-faith defense while withholding related communications. He said the party could not use the privilege as both shield and sword.
“may have their shield but may not have their sword and wield it, too.”
Procedural preferences
Fee requests should be supported by contemporaneous records identifying the date, time, and work performed; missing records can defeat or reduce recovery.
“must document the application with contemporaneous time records”
Cautions
In wage cases, irrelevant immigration-status discovery is especially disfavored because its coercive effect can overwhelm any slight evidentiary value.
“the potential for prejudice far outweighs whatever minimal probative value such information would have.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the foregoing reasons, the defendants’ motion for judgment as a matter of law, or, alternatively, for a new trial, is denied in its entirety.”
“Before the Court is the application of defendant, Broan-Nutone, LLC (‘Broan’), for attorney’s fees and costs in the amount of $151,992.28. ... For the reasons that follow, defendant is awarded attorney’s fees and costs in the amount of $114,905.02.”
“plaintiffs motion to compel the production of certain reinsurance information sought in Interrogatory No. 8 of its First Set of Interrogatories is granted.”
“I have reviewed the exhibits that Pall seeks to have sealed and conclude that its application is without merit.”
“In the interest of justice, Spanish speaking counsel is appointed from the pro bono panel to the plaintiff in this action.”
“former counsel Gold, Stewart, Kravatz, Benes LLP’s motion for a charging lien against the settlement recovered by plaintiffs herein is denied in its entirety.”
“3M’s motion for sanctions is denied in its entirety.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Cuno’s motion to compel is granted.”
“Schaffer’s application is accordingly granted.”
“Plaintiffs’ motion to amend their complaint a second time is granted in its entirety.”
“I recommend that the plaintiffs motion for attorney’s fees be granted in the amount of $1,840.00”
“For all the foregoing reasons, pursuant to Rule 26(c), all discovery is stayed pending the outcome of the pending motion to dismiss”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The returned assigned matters included employment, civil-rights, contract, personal-injury, patent, wage, and government cases. The fixed sample was designed to test entry availability across eras, not to estimate subject-matter percentages or duration.
A historical record
Judge Boyle no longer sits on this court. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.