Frederic Block
How Judge Block rules, drawn from 22 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Block
Frederic Block is a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Appointed by President William J. Clinton, Judge Block received a commission on September 29, 1994. Judge Block assumed senior status on September 1, 2005.
Judge Block's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Block, 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
Courtesy copies of motion papers are not required.
“Courtesy copies of all motion papers are not required.”
Motions
In represented cases, request a pre-motion conference before nondiscovery motions, subject to the stated case exceptions.
“For motions other than discovery motions, in all cases where the parties are represented by counsel, except habeas corpus/prisoner petitions and Social Security and Bankruptcy appeals, a pre-motion conference with the court must be requested before making any motions.”
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 Block decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Iaffaldano v. Commissioner of Social Security, he remanded because the administrative law judge had not reconciled conflicting examiners or obtained a treating psychologist's opinion in a thin mental-health record.
“the ALJ’s severity determination is not supported by substantial evidence. The record here, at 284 pages, is simply not robust enough for the ALJ to make a determination without a treating psychologist’s opinion or notes.”
In Jones v. New York City Department of Education, Block denied summary judgment on an ADEA retaliation claim after finding the grievance and firing evidence sufficient for a jury to consider causation.
“Plaintiff adequately alleges that the adverse employment action of termination was motivated by his filing of grievances, and a reasonable juror could conclude the elements of ADEA retaliation have been established.”
Procedural preferences
In 5316 Church Avenue LLC v. Yhun, he denied foreclosure summary judgment without prejudice because the lender's notice of pendency did not meet a statutory filing requirement.
“Without a valid notice of pendency filed twenty days before a final judgment, Church has not complied with the statutory requirements of RPAPL § 1331. Therefore, Church’s Motion for Summary Judgment must be denied without prejudice.”
In Hollis Park Manor Nursing Home v. Landmark American Insurance Co., he read the policy's derivative-claim exception according to its legal usage and found the Attorney General's claim outside the covered exception.
“the broad definition of 'derivative claim' urged by Hollis Park is not reasonable. The Court agrees with Landmark that based on common legal usage, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, New York statutory law, and other Policy provisions, the phrase 'derivative or shareholder class action claims' only reasonably means derivative claims brought in the name of the corporation or direct shareholder class action claims brought by shareholders to enforce some other law.”
In Knights v. City University of New York, he denied attorney's fees as the appellate mandate required while explaining his disagreement with the precedent used to deny them.
“in compliance with my duty to abide by the appellate court's order, I am issuing this order today denying attorney's fees. But I take this opportunity to write that the Court should, if faced with the issue again, reconsider the probity of the precedent upon which it relied ... Why Knights' attorney should be penalized by not awarding any fees at all for his successful decades-long battle ... is simply beyond my comprehension.”
Cautions
In Selvon v. City of New York, Block granted summary judgment on a malicious-prosecution claim after finding that the grand jury indictment’s probable-cause presumption had not been rebutted by evidence of fraud or bad-faith police conduct.
“the grand jury’s finding of probable cause (1) should not be disturbed and (2) operates as a complete defense to plaintiff’s malicious prosecution claim.”
In Bluming v. Enhanced Recovery Company, LLC, he dismissed a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act claim because the challenged letter tracked the statute closely and did not mislead or contradict the consumer's dispute rights.
“Here, the letter tracks §1692 nearly verbatim and contains no overshadowing or contradicting statements.”
In Smallwood v. Delta Air Lines, Block granted summary judgment on the ADA claims because Smallwood had not established a qualifying disability. He also found that her failure to seek an accommodation defeated a related state-law theory, while other termination claims remained for trial.
“Delta's motion for summary judgment is GRANTED as to Smallwood's ADA claims but DENIED as to her remaining claims. ... Smallwood's failure to seek accommodation is as fatal to her state-law 'failure to accommodate' claim as it was to her ADA claim.”
In Kinsella v. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, he denied reconsideration and a proposed amendment as futile, but also denied sanctions because the opposing legal positions had some chance of success.
“Plaintiff has not shown that the Federal Defendants’ and SFW’s legal positions lack some ‘“chance of success[.]”’”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Landmark's motion for summary judgment is granted, Hollis Park's is denied, and the complaint is dismissed in it entirety.”
“For the foregoing reasons, defendant's motion for summary judgment is denied.”
“Because the letter is not misleading as to whether a dispute must be made in writing, the plaintiff cannot sustain claims under the FDCPA. Therefore, the defendant's motion to dismiss is granted.”
“Delta's motion for summary judgment is GRANTED as to Smallwood's ADA claims but DENIED as to her remaining claims.”
“The Mandate was issued on July 14, and, in compliance with my duty to abide by the appellate court's order, I am issuing this order today denying attorney's fees.”
“Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom issued a Report and Recommendation ('R&R') recommending that Plaintiff Freedom Mortgage Corporation's ('Freedom Mortgage') motion for default judgment be granted in part and denied in part. ... Accordingly, the Court adopts the R&R without de novo review and directs the Clerk to enter judgment in accordance with the R&R.”
“the defendants’ motion for summary judgment on the malicious prosecution claim is GRANTED.”
“Iaffaldano’s motion is GRANTED and Commissioner’s motion is DENIED.”
“Isreal’s motion to dismiss is granted and the complaint is dismissed.”
“Church’s motion for summary judgment is denied.”
“Defendants’ motion for summary judgment is granted as to Knights’s deprivation of property claims, his deprivation of liberty claims against Carozza and Isekenegbe, and his CPLR § 7511 claim, and denied as to his deprivation of liberty claim against CUNY.”
“Knights’s cross-motion for summary judgment is denied.”
“Plaintiff’s motions for reconsideration of and relief from the Decision, for leave to file the PTAC, and for sanctions against the Federal Defendants, SFW, and SFW’s counsel are all DENIED.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiff’s sanctions motion is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 157 days (N = 11).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 211.5 days (N = 10).
- Judge Block has served as a senior judge since 2005 and remains active on the Brooklyn and Long Island bench.
- A 2018-2020 sample is dominated by ADA Title III public-accommodation suits and 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motions to vacate, alongside criminal cases, employment and civil-rights disputes, trademark matters, and Administrative Procedure Act challenges.
- Cases assigned in 2026 also include immigration mandamus, copyright, and contract disputes.
- ADA Title III cases in the sample often closed by settlement or dismissal within two to three months, while Section 2255 and contested civil matters ran much longer.
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 | 28 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 28 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 26 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 30 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 33 |
| Mar 2024 | 1 | 32 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 30 |
| Mar 2023 | 7 | 37 |
| Sep 2022 | 3 | 33 |
| Mar 2022 | 2 | 40 |
| Sep 2021 | 1 | 30 |
| Mar 2021 | 2 | 25 |
| Sep 2020 | 1 | 25 |
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 Block: 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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