Natasha Clarise Merle
How Judge Merle rules, drawn from 36 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Merle
Natasha Clarise Merle is a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Appointed by President Joseph R. Biden, Judge Merle received a commission on August 11, 2023.
Judge Merle's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Merle, 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
Motions
Request a pre-motion conference by letter motion of no more than three pages.
“To request a pre-motion conference, the moving party shall file a letter-motion not to exceed three (3) pages in length setting forth the basis for the anticipated motion.”
Conferences
Request an adjournment or extension at least two business days before the deadline or appearance absent an emergency.
“Absent an emergency, all requests for adjournment or extension of time shall be made at least two (2) business days prior to the scheduled deadline or appearance.”
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 Merle decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In a summary-judgment case involving public safety, she held that disputed factual issues remained for a civil jury and rejected the argument that their public-safety implications put them beyond a jury’s reach.
“To state that factual issues implicating public safety are beyond the reach of a civil jury is to ignore the very function of that body whose 'purpose' is to 'assure a fair and equitable resolution of factual issues.'”
In a preliminary-injunction ruling, she applied the requirement of irreparable harm and denied relief where the asserted harm was speculative or could be remedied by damages.
“Irreparable harm 'is the single most important prerequisite' for injunctive relief, and 'in the absence of a showing of irreparable harm, a motion for a preliminary injunction should be denied.'”
In an APA challenge to termination of an F-1 student’s SEVIS record, she found a likelihood of success and irreparable harm that money damages could not remedy, and granted a temporary restraining order.
“plaintiffs have shown by a preponderance of the evidence a likelihood of success on the merits of their claim pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act ... that plaintiffs will likely suffer irreparable harm which cannot be remedied by money damages”
In a post-trial identity-theft case, the court set aside the aggravated identity-theft conviction because the government had not shown that use of another person’s identity was central to the fund theft. The separate theft conviction survived the same Rule 29 motion.
“no reasonable juror could have found the evidence sufficient to support defendant’s conviction on Count Two, aggravated identity theft.”
Procedural preferences
In a summary-judgment ruling, she declined to consider factual allegations and legal theories that had not been raised in the complaint.
“the Court 'should not on summary judgment consider factual allegations and legal theories not raised in the complaint.'”
On a Rule 12(c) motion, she dismissed a declaratory-judgment claim because it sought relief duplicative of the plaintiff’s fraud claim.
“The relief plaintiff seeks under his declaratory judgment claim ... is plainly duplicative of its cause of action for fraud.”
In Jacobs v. DraftKings, she denied reconsideration of the refusal to dismiss a fiduciary duty claim, concluding that the existence of a fiduciary relationship should not be decided on those pleadings.
“The Court is not persuaded that it should depart from typical practice and conclusively resolve the existence of a fiduciary relationship at this stage.”
In a Rule 6.3 reconsideration decision, she required exceptional circumstances rather than repeated disagreement with the prior ruling. A later child-return order partially changed travel arrangements while leaving the passport decision in place; each ruling turned on the request and record before the court.
“A motion for reconsideration is an extraordinary remedy to be employed sparingly and can be granted only upon a showing of exceptional circumstances.”
In an August 2026 detention case, the court ruled before the petitioner’s reply deadline after the government conceded it could not document the asserted parole basis and could not distinguish a prior detention decision. The order required release within 24 hours.
“The petition for a writ of habeas corpus is therefore GRANTED.”
In a removed civil case, she enforced the statutory one-year removal limit from commencement of the action and rejected an argument that a later damages disclosure restarted that deadline.
“the Court is not persuaded that the one-year clock began running on any date other than the date specified explicitly in the statute: the date of the ‘commencement of the action.’”
Cautions
In a foreclosure case, she reviewed the record and adopted the magistrate judge’s recommendation after finding that the plaintiff supported its claimed damages and reasonable costs.
“Having reviewed the record, I find that plaintiff has satisfied the requirements for a judgment of foreclosure ... Plaintiff has submitted adequate evidence to support its claimed damages, and its claimed costs and disbursements of $1,817.29 are reasonable.”
In a case dismissed after unanswered show-cause orders, she held that counsel had a duty to monitor the docket despite claimed email-notification problems and denied relief from the dismissal.
“Even if a technical problem prevented Seddio from seeing electronic notifications that were sent to his email, Seddio had an obligation to monitor the docket sheet to inform [himself] of the entry of orders.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the Midvale Motion is DENIED, and the Cross Motions are GRANTED in part, DENIED in part.”
“the defendants' Cross Motions are GRANTED in part, DENIED in part; ... the Court DECLARES that Midvale has a duty to defend Arevalos and D&G with respect to the action captioned Victor Siguenza Zuniga v. 625 Halsey LLC, et al.”
“defendant Lowe's Home Centers, LLC's motion for summary judgment is GRANTED. Plaintiffs' claims against Lowe's are dismissed.”
“defendants' motion for judgment on the pleadings is GRANTED in part, and DENIED in part. Plaintiff's claims for unjust enrichment and declaratory judgment are dismissed.”
“the Court GRANTS defendant's motion for summary judgment in its entirety. The Clerk of Court shall enter judgment accordingly and close the case.”
“Having found no clear error, I therefore adopt the Report and Recommendations, in their entirety, as the opinion of the Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). Accordingly, the Clerk shall enter judgment (1) ordering the foreclosure and sale of 67 Harriman Ave, Hempstead, NY 11550 ... (4) directing that the plaintiff receive $618,291.92”
“defendant Lewis's motion for preliminary injunction is DENIED.”
“For the reasons stated above, the cross-motions for summary judgment are DENIED.”
“defendant's motions in limine to (1) dismiss plaintiffs' request for punitive damages; (2) preclude evidence or testimony regarding defendant's financial size or condition; and (3) preclude testimony regarding an alleged power outage at the New York City dispatch center on March 21, 2024 are DENIED.”
Her own signed MEMORANDUM & ORDER screening a pro se 42 U.S.C. 1983 complaint under 28 U.S.C. 1915. It rules on no party motion. Dismissed claims against the state-court judges (judicial immunity), the court clerk, and the defense attorneys (not state actors), and allowed the excessive-force/false-arrest claims against the individual police officers to proceed. The order states: 'Plaintiff's claims against Kings County Criminal Court Judges John Hecht, Dineen Riviezzo, and Phyliss Chu, Chief Court Clerk Brian M. McAllister, and attorneys Mario Romano and Jeremy Saland are dismissed.... [the police-officer defendants] may proceed.' Referred to Magistrate Judge Seth D. Eichenholtz.
“defendant's motion to dismiss is GRANTED in part, DENIED in part. Plaintiff's claims for negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress are DISMISSED without prejudice.”
“For the reasons set forth above, defendant's motion for reconsideration is DENIED.”
“defendant's motion to dismiss is granted in part, denied in part. Plaintiff's Title VII discrimination claim is hereby dismissed.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Routine ADA/FLSA/contract matters terminate in roughly 5-10 months; the qui tam ran ~4.3 years. Many quick terminations are voluntary dismissals or 28 U.S.C. 1915 screening dismissals (e.g. Rubinov), not merits rulings. Mix is a typical Brooklyn/Long Island civil intake plus a 2026 alien-detainee habeas uptick.
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, not for Judge Merle: 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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