Orelia Eleta Merchant
How Judge Merchant rules, drawn from 34 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Merchant
Orelia Eleta Merchant is a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Appointed by President Joseph R. Biden, Judge Merchant received a commission on May 12, 2023.
Judge Merchant's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Merchant, 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
Do not change an approved briefing schedule without court approval.
“No changes to the briefing schedule may be made without Court approval.”
Conferences
Request an adjournment or extension at least two business days in advance absent an emergency.
“Absent an emergency, all requests for adjournment or enlargement 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 Merchant decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Complete Packaging v. Arch Insurance, she held that the policy's interrelated-claims provision unambiguously treated the Wunk and Rothman actions as one earlier claim.
“The Court finds that the Insurance Policy's language concerning interrelated claims is unambiguous. ... the Wunk Action and the Rothman Action are ‘arising from, based upon, or attributable to the same Wrongful Act or Interrelated Wrongful Acts’ and therefore ‘shall be deemed to be a single Claim first made on the earliest date that [...] any of such Claims was first made.’”
In Eisner v. United States, she granted summary judgment on the wrongful-death claim because the plaintiff lacked expert testimony needed to prove medical causation.
“Without such testimony, Plaintiff cannot establish causation necessary to prove her claim for wrongful death or to create a genuine issue of material fact. ... Accordingly, Defendant is entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the reasons set forth above, AIC's motion is granted and the Third-Party Complaint is dismissed in entirety.”
“Accordingly, a default judgment shall be entered against Defendants Presidential Luxury Limousines Inc. and David Yahodah and Plaintiff is awarded: 1) $60,297.03 representing unpaid minimum wages and overtime pay under the NYLL; 2) $60,297.03 in liquidated damages under the NYLL; and 3) $10,000 in attorney's fees and $955.00 in costs.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Defendant's motion is granted, and Plaintiff's complaint is hereby dismissed.”
“For the reasons that follow, this action is hereby transferred to the Western District of Oklahoma pursuant to 28 USC § 1406(a) and 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), and Defendants' motion to dismiss is denied without prejudice to renewal following the transfer of this action.”
“For the following reasons, the Court grants the Amoy Defendants', Best Food Defendants', Grand Food's, and KND Defendants' motions to dismiss and dismisses this matter in its entirety.”
“Accordingly, Plaintiff's request for injunctive relief and default judgment are denied.”
“Consequently, Counterclaim Defendants' motion to dismiss the Amended Counterclaim is granted, the Amended Counterclaim is hereby dismissed, and the Court need not reach the remainder of the R&R's recommendations.”
“Accordingly, Plaintiff's claims under the federal Freedom of Information Act are dismissed for failure to state a claim pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B), and his claims under New York's FOIL are dismissed without prejudice pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(3).”
“For the reasons stated herein, Bogoraz's motion for reconsideration is granted as to Bogoraz's argument regarding the fourth element of Apogee's promissory estoppel claim and denied as to its other arguments. ... On reconsideration, Apogee's motion for summary judgment based on its promissory estoppel and attorney's fees claims is denied.”
“For the following reasons, Petitioner's petition for a writ of habeas corpus is granted.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Edward Byam's motion for a reduction of sentence is granted, and his sentence is modified to 16 years.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Monsalvatge's motion is denied.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 212 days (N = 6).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 220.0 days (N = 2).
- Judge Merchant is a newer district judge in Brooklyn with a broad civil and criminal docket.
- Sampled civil matters include FLSA and New York Labor Law wage cases, a 2026 surge of alien-detainee habeas petitions, False Claims Act litigation, mortgage foreclosure, ADA access, insurance coverage, Federal Tort Claims Act cases, and prisoner civil-rights suits.
- Her criminal cases include United States v. Spence and United States v. Taylor.
- The caseload mix is qualitative and 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 | 19 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 19 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 22 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 21 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 18 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 15 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 8 |
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 Merchant: 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 Merchant with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Merchant, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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