Nicholas G. Garaufis
How Judge Garaufis decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In employment-discrimination cases he denies summary judgment where the plaintiff offers direct-evidence remarks tied to the decisionmaker and the adverse action -- such remarks are treated as more than 'stray' and create triable issues even under the ADEA's heightened but-for-causation standard.
“Rodriguez's alleged comment was "less a 'stray' remark than an open declaration of bias. It not only reflected a highly discriminatory attitude, but also came at the time of the [adverse employment action] and referred directly to [Plaintiffs] tenure with [Wyckoff] in negative terms."”
Procedural preferences
He resolves subject-matter jurisdiction before the merits, and applies the FTCA's administrative-exhaustion prerequisite strictly -- requiring actual proof the agency received the notice of claim, not merely proof of mailing, and applying that bar with equal force to pro se litigants.
“The majority view among district courts in this circuit is that to comply with 28 U.S.C. § 2675(a), actual proof of receipt by a federal agency, not just proof of mailing, is required.”
On a magistrate's R&R to which no party objects, he reviews for clear error and will adopt it -- but he exercises independent judgment on discretionary relief (here, declining to appoint the plaintiff's hand-picked foreclosure referee and demanding additional candidates).
“The court finds no clear error, but declines to appoint Susan E. Rizos, Esq. as referee at this time. Accordingly, the court ADOPTS the R&R as modified, and GRANTS Plaintiffs motion for default judgment.”
Cautions
Retaliation and discrimination claims need a tight causal connection: a long temporal gap between protected activity and the adverse action negates the inference, and a pro se plaintiff must still establish he was 'qualified' for the position to make out a prima facie case.
“A twenty-year span between a protected activity and an alleged adverse employment action is far too removed to constitute the causal connection necessary to state a retaliation claim.”
Reconsideration is hard in his court: the standard is 'strict', and new evidence (even helpful deposition admissions) will not reopen a ruling unless it cures the specific defect the court already identified -- repackaging an issue the court fully considered will fail.
“Courts narrowly construe and strictly apply these principles to avoid "repetitive arguments on issues that have already been considered fully by the court."”
Challenging a superseding indictment as untimely is an uphill fight: charges that narrow or merely add detail relate back to the original indictment, and a venue ruling already made becomes law of the case absent cogent and compelling reasons to revisit it.
“Superseding charges that narrow, rather than broaden, are timely, so the removal of the Exchange investors does not affect the timeliness of the Third Superseding Indictment.”
Motion outcomes
Counted from classified signed orders only. Percentages are shown only where the sample is large enough to be meaningful; smaller samples are reported as raw counts.
| Motions to dismiss N = 6 |
Granted: 1Granted in part: 2Denied: 3 | counts only |
| Summary judgment N = 5 |
Granted: 3Denied: 2 | counts only |
| Default judgment N = 2 |
Granted: 2 | counts only |
| Motion to dismiss indictment N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motion for reconsideration N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motion to sever N = 1 |
Moot / procedural: 1 | counts only |
A "1 of 1" is one ruling, not a tendency. Treat small samples as illustrative, not predictive.
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the reasons stated above. Defendants' Motions for Summary Judgment( Dkts. 82, 91) are DENIED.”
“the court GRANTS Amazon's motion for summary judgment and DENIES Won's cross-motion for partial summary judgment.”
“the court GRANTS Amazon's motion for summary judgment and DENIES Won's cross-motion for partial summary judgment.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the defendants' motion for summary judgment is GRANTED.”
“the Defendant's motion to dismiss Count One of the Third Superseding Indictment is DENIED.”
“As Plaintiff's amendments would be futile, his motion for reconsideration is therefore DENIED.”
“the court ADOPTS the R&R as modified, and GRANTS Plaintiffs motion for default judgment.”
“Defendants' motion for dismissal of Plaintiff's constitutional tort claims is GRANTED, and Plaintiff's challenges to his deportations from the United States are DENIED.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Defendants' motion to dismiss is GRANfED, and Defendants' motion to sever is DENIED as moot.”
“As Plaintiffs' claims are dismissed, Defendants' motion to sever is denied as moot.”
“the Defendants' motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) ... which has been converted by this court into a motion for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 ... is hereby GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.”
“For the reasons set forth above, the moving Defendants' motion to dismiss is DENIED on all grounds.”
“The court DENIES Defendant Xi Liu's motion to dismiss (Dkt. 128).”
“For the foregoing reasons, Defendants' motion to dismiss is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 89 days (N = 15).
A long-tenured Brooklyn (E.D.N.Y.) judge, senior since 2014 but still actively assigned new civil and criminal cases (2026 intake includes securities, FCA/qui tam, immigration/USCIS, FMLA, and criminal matters). The terminated-docket sample is bimodal: serial-plaintiff ADA Title III public-accommodation suits, immigration actions, and miscellaneous (mc) matters close fast (days to a few months, usually by settlement or dismissal), while contested civil-rights (Section 1983), insurance, and prisoner matters run for years. Criminal docket includes marquee racketeering/fraud trials (NXIVM/Raniere, Manuel Chang).