Raymond J. Dearie
How Judge Dearie rules, drawn from 15 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Dearie
Raymond Joseph Dearie is a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Judge Dearie received a commission on March 19, 1986. Judge Dearie assumed senior status on April 3, 2011.
Judge Dearie's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Dearie, 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 before dispositive or venue motions, subject to the listed exceptions.
“A pre-motion conference with the Court is required before any dispositive motions or motions for change of venue are filed, except when one or more of the parties is pro se or the case is a habeas corpus petition, a prisoner petition, a Social Security appeal, or a bankruptcy appeal.”
Motions
Set a briefing schedule before serving motion papers.
“Before serving motion papers, parties must set a briefing schedule.”
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 Dearie decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. Stand Up MRI of Brooklyn, P.C., he held that the alleged pattern of errors across 51 medical reports supported a strong inference of fraudulent intent at the pleading stage.
“These allegations suffice at the pleading stage to state a ‘strong inference’ of fraudulent intent that is cogent and at least as compelling as any opposing, innocuous inference.”
In an employment summary judgment dispute, the timing of an employee’s termination supported an inference of retaliation even though the discrimination and hostile work environment claims did not survive.
“the circumstances and timing of Mauze's termination permit an inference of retaliatory animus”
Procedural preferences
In Young v. Young, he dismissed a diversity action without reaching the other defenses because the settlement agreement capped the claimed fees below the jurisdictional threshold.
“As it is a legal certainty that plaintiffs claim is for less than the jurisdictional amount, this action is dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.”
In Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. Stand Up MRI of Brooklyn, P.C., he declined to consider theories raised for the first time in opposition to dismissal because the complaint could not be amended through briefing.
“Plaintiff never sought leave to amend its declaratory judgment claim... ‘[i]t is axiomatic that the Complaint cannot be amended by the briefs in opposition to a motion to dismiss.’ ... the declaratory judgment claim is dismissed.”
In Twin Beauty, he checked personal jurisdiction before entering default judgment against a defendant that had not appeared, and denied the request when the amended complaint did not establish jurisdiction.
“the amended complaint does not state a prima facie case for personal jurisdiction over defendants,”
Cautions
In O’Neil v. Bank of America, he granted summary judgment on the employee’s race discrimination claims after finding that her proposed comparators had not engaged in the conduct for which she was terminated.
“no reasonable juror could find that Thomson and Canto were similarly situated to her. First and foremost, neither Thomson nor Canto falsified an attorney signature in violation of the Bank’s express policy regarding legal invoices, the conduct for which plaintiff was terminated.”
In Francis v. Namdor, Inc., he granted summary judgment on the disability-discrimination claim because the employer had decided to fire the plaintiff before learning of the alleged disability.
“As in Spares, it is undisputed that Defendants decided to fire Francis before they knew anything about his claimed disability.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“As it is a legal certainty that plaintiffs claim is for less than the jurisdictional amount, this action is dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.”
“The Government's motion for summary judgment is granted. UfCP's cross-motion is dismissed.”
“respondent's motion to dismiss the petition as time-barred is denied.”
“defendants' motion to dismiss is granted in part and denied in part. Plaintiff's claims for unjust enrichment and for a declaratory judgment are dismissed. Defendants' motion is otherwise denied.”
“Defendant's motion for summary judgment is granted with respect to each of plaintiff's claims, and the complaint is dismissed.”
“Because the undisputed evidence establishes that Francis was not fired on account of his disability. Defendants' motion for summary judgment is granted.”
“Plaintiff’s Motion for Class Certification, ECF No. 96, is granted.”
“recommending that defendant's motion for summary judgment be granted and that plaintiff's cross-motion for summary judgment be denied. Neither party filed objections. This Court adopts Magistrate Judge Pohorelsky's Report and Recommendation in full,”
“Default judgment is entered in the amount of $76,056.42.”
“plaintiffs' motion for reconsideration is denied.”
“defendant Rodriguez’s motion to dismiss the amended complaint is granted”
“plaintiff’s motion for default judgment against NRI is denied”
“I am constrained by controlling precedent to deny Ms. Stephenson’s application.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 140.5 days (N = 10).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 279 days (N = 3).
- A senior judge (since 2011, formerly Chief Judge) on the Brooklyn/Long Island bench, still assigned new civil and criminal cases.
- The terminated-docket sample is dominated by FDCPA / consumer-credit (480) suits and immigration actions that close in a few months, plus miscellaneous (mc) matters and prisoner petitions; his published opinions also include tax, insurance-fraud, employment-discrimination, and habeas matters.
- Beyond the district docket he carried high-profile assignments: presiding judge of the FISA Court (2012-2019) and the Mar-a-Lago documents special master (2022).
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 | 0 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 4 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 18 |
| Mar 2022 | 3 | 21 |
| Sep 2021 | 2 | 14 |
| Mar 2021 | 4 | 16 |
| Sep 2020 | 3 | 19 |
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 Dearie: 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 Dearie with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Dearie, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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