Peggy Kuo
How Judge Kuo decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
At the pleading stage she takes the plaintiff's jurisdictional and ownership allegations as true and resolves conflicting affidavits in the plaintiff's favor, deferring fact disputes (e.g. true state of incorporation, trademark assignment) to summary judgment.
“on a motion to dismiss, Plaintiff’s allegations of jurisdictional facts are taken as true ... If the parties present conflicting affidavits, all factual disputes are resolved in the plaintiff's favor”
On default judgments she does not rubber-stamp the demand: she runs her own damages math and discounts attorney rates/hours, awarding a precise itemized figure rather than the amount requested.
“I respectfully recommend that the Motion be granted and that damages be awarded under the NYLL as follows: $5,238.10 for unpaid minimum wage; $1,507.50 for unpaid overtime premium ...”
Procedural preferences
FLSA settlement-enforcement trap: a court that merely approves a Cheeks settlement (even reciting its terms) does NOT retain jurisdiction to later enforce it unless the dismissal order expressly retains jurisdiction or incorporates the settlement terms. Build that retention language into the dismissal or lose the federal forum.
“The Court did not expressly retain jurisdiction or incorporate the terms of the settlement ... this alone is not sufficient for the Court to retain jurisdiction ... I find ... that the Court lacks jurisdiction to enforce the Settlement Agreement”
Her published Individual Practice Rules require a pre-motion-conference letter (<=3 pp.) before ANY dispositive motion on consent, cap dispositive briefs at 25 pp., and route all non-dispositive/discovery motions to her by 3-page letter-motion with no reply. Discovery disputes need a Local Rule 37.3 meet-and-confer first; no pre-motion conference needed for a discovery motion.
“A motion requesting a pre-motion conference is required before any dispositive motion may be filed. The request must be accompanied by a summary of the proposed motion, not to exceed three (3) pages.”
Cautions
Discovery misconduct draws real teeth: she recommends Rule 37 fee sanctions, adverse-inference instructions for spoliation (e.g. having surgery after a preservation notice without a defense IME), and §636(e) certifications of contempt facts against non-parties who defy subpoenas. Comply with preservation notices and subpoenas.
“recommending that the Court grant the motion for sanctions and impose an adverse inference instruction as a sanction”
Arbitration clauses in trust agreements / CBAs are enforced; LMRA Section 301 claims within the clause's scope are arbitrable and the movant resisting arbitration bears the burden. Don't expect to litigate around a governing arbitration clause.
“claims brought under the LMRA are arbitrable, and Plaintiffs have not met their burden of demonstrating otherwise”
A default may be vacated even when willful if there is a meritorious defense and little prejudice — but she conditions vacatur on the defaulting party first reimbursing the plaintiff's default-related fees and costs.
“Defendants acted willfully, but ... have presented a meritorious defense and there is insufficient prejudice to Plaintiffs ... the Default Judgment be vacated only on the condition that Defendants first pay Plaintiffs the fees and costs that Plaintiffs incurred as a result of the default”
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.
| Default judgment N = 3 |
Granted: 2Granted in part: 1 | counts only |
| Motions to dismiss N = 3 |
Granted: 1Granted in part: 1Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motion for sanctions N = 2 |
Granted: 2 | counts only |
| Class certification N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motion for contempt N = 1 |
Granted: 1 | counts only |
| Motion to turnover fraudulent conveyance N = 1 |
Granted: 1 | counts only |
| Motion to compel arbitration N = 1 |
Granted: 1 | counts only |
| Motion to vacate default N = 1 |
Granted: 1 | counts only |
| Motion to enforce settlement N = 1 |
Denied: 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.
“The undersigned respectfully recommends that the funds in the TD Bank joint checking account ending in 3094 be turned over to Plaintiffs and that Plaintiffs be granted leave to seek attorneys’ fees after judgment is entered.”
“Magistrate Judge Kuo issued a thorough and well reasoned R & R recommending that the Court grant in part and deny in part Moving Defendants’ motion to dismiss. ... the parties’ objections are overruled and the R & R is adopted in its entirety.”
“the undersigned respectfully recommends that the Motion be granted, and that the Default Judgment be vacated, but that vacatur be contingent upon the requirement that Defendants first pay to Plaintiffs the costs and attorneys’ fees Plaintiffs incurred as a result of the default.”
“the May 13, 2022, Report and Recommendations of Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo (the “R&R”), which recommends that the Court grant in part and deny in part the Fund’s Motion for a Final Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale ... Magistrate Judge Kuo’s Report and Recommendation is adopted as the opinion of the Court, with the following modifications.”
“I find, therefore, that the Court lacks jurisdiction to enforce the Settlement Agreement, and I respectfully recommend that the Motion be denied.”
“the undersigned respectfully recommends that the Motion be GRANTED, that Defendants Creative Fiberglass and Colombo be found jointly and severally liable for breach of contract, and that judgment be entered against both defendants awarding Plaintiff (1) $96,369.23; (2) prejudgment interest of $23.76 per day ...”
“Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo sua sponte issued a report and recommendation, recommending that the Court grant the motion for sanctions and impose an adverse inference instruction as a sanction ... the Court adopts the R&R in its entirety and grants Defendants’ motion to for sanctions.”
“Judge Kuo recommended that I deny the plaintiff’s motion because she did not show commonality, typicality, or adequacy with respect to a proposed class. ... I adopt the report and recommendation in its entirety, and deny the plaintiff’s motion for class certification.”
“On July 26, 2021, Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo recommended sanctions against the defendants under Rule 37 for not cooperating in discovery or complying with court orders. The Court adopted Judge Kuo’s recommendation and directed the defendants to pay the plaintiff’s counsel $16,025.40 in attorneys’ fees.”
“Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo issued a report and recommendation recommending that the Court “issue an order to show cause as to why [non-party] Dr. [Michael] Alleyne should not be found in contempt” for failing to comply with a subpoena to produce documents ... the Court adopts the R&R and orders Dr. Alleyne to show cause ... why the Court should not hold him in contempt”
“I respectfully recommend that the Motion be granted and that damages be awarded under the NYLL as follows: $5,238.10 for unpaid minimum wage; $1,507.50 for unpaid overtime premium; ... $71,221.83 in back pay damages on the retaliation claim ...”
“Report and Recommendation (“R&R”) dated June 24, 2025 from the Honorable Peggy Kuo, United States Magistrate Judge, recommending that the Court grant the motion to dismiss filed by defendants ... (collectively, “Union Defendants”). ... the Court overrules plaintiff’s objections and adopts the R&R in its entirety.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 280 days (N = 7).
As-assigned consent civil docket is dominated by single-plaintiff FLSA/NYLL wage cases (710), plus ADA-employment (445), Social Security appeals, FELA/railroad injury, copyright (820), and 'Contract: Other' (190). These consent cases overwhelmingly SETTLE rather than reaching a contested dispositive ruling. Separately she carries a steady magistrate-duty criminal calendar (1:NN-mj-* warrants/complaints).