Reena Andrea Raggi

How Judge Raggi rules, drawn from 23 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Judge Raggi no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.

Court
United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
Position
district
Status
Elevated to a higher court
Served
1987–2002
Appointed by
Ronald Reagan (Republican)
Commissioned
1987-05-07
Education
Wellesley College, B.A., 1973; Harvard Law School, J.D., 1976
Signed orders read
23

How Judge Raggi decides

Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

What persuades

Raggi entered summary judgment when a civil-rights plaintiff could not connect a private defendant to state action, even after allowing an opportunity to identify admissible evidence of joint conduct.

“they are insufficient to support a jury finding that Writsel acted jointly or conspired with any state official in a common scheme to violate plaintiffs Fourth Amendment and due process rights”

She applied the rule of lenity to a capital-sentencing notice where Congress had not made clear which meaning of a statutory phrase governed.

“the rule of lenity compels this court to interpret the phrase in its strictest sense”

Procedural preferences

Raggi required a party seeking relief under Title VII's fee provision to have pursued an action or proceeding under Title VII, rather than treating a successful state-law case as enough.

“Because Paz never commenced any action or proceeding under Title VII, he cannot now invoke that statute to recover attorney’s fees incurred in a suit under state law.”

She stayed a federal action when related state proceedings could resolve overlapping factual and constitutional questions, while preserving the federal forum for any remaining claims.

“Resolution of plaintiffs’ federal claims are stayed pending the outcome of related pending state proceedings.”

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

Temple of the Lost Sheep, Inc. v. Abrams
· 1989-06-07
Motion to abstain and stay (defendants) Granted

“For the reasons here stated, the court grants the motion to abstain and stays this action until the conclusion of the related state proceedings.”

F & L Plumbing & Heating Co. v. New York University
· 1990-04-06
Summary judgment (F & L Plumbing and Heating Co.) Denied

“the court hereby denies without prejudice plaintiffs motion for partial summary judgment and New York University’s cross motion for discovery and sanctions.”

Motion for discovery (New York University) Denied
Motion for sanctions (New York University) Denied
United States v. Certain Real Property and Premises Known as 218 Panther Street
· 1990-08-21
Default judgment (United States) Granted

“this court hereby directs the Clerk of the Court to enter default judgment in favor of the United States as to all such property.”

Motion for release of property (Johnny Eng) Moot / procedural

“His motions are, accordingly, dismissed.”

Motion to dismiss forfeiture claims (Johnny Eng) Moot / procedural
Motions to stay (Johnny Eng) Moot / procedural
In re Candelaria
· 1990-11-15
Bankruptcy appeal (William and Wanda Candelaria) Granted

“The bankruptcy court’s denial of debtors’ request to reopen proceedings to allow the addition of an omitted creditor, to the extent it was based on a legal finding that such debt was no longer dischargeable, is hereby reversed.”

Dash v. Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States
· 1990-12-21
Summary judgment (Equitable Life Assurance Society and Equicor-Equitable HCA Corp.) Granted in part

“Defendants’ motions for dismissal or summary judgment on plaintiff’s § 1981 claims are granted as to allegations of discriminatory discharge and job evaluations and as to allegations of retaliatory discharge. The motions are denied as to the claim of discriminatory denial of promotion.”

Veloz-Gertrudis v. United States
· 1991-07-03
Motions to dismiss (United States) Granted

“The motion to dismiss this action is granted in light of Feres v. United States, supra, and its progeny.”

United States v. Pitera
· 1992-05-26
Motion to amend capital notice (United States) Denied

“the motion to amend the capital notice is denied.”

Matter of Extradition of Montiel Garcia
· 1992-07-30
Request for extradition (United States on behalf of Mexico) Granted

“this court hereby certifies to the Secretary of State that David Montiel Garcia is - extraditable to Mexico to answer charges of violating Articles 234 and 179 of the Mexican Penal Law.”

Setlech v. United States
· 1993-02-08
Summary judgment (federal defendants) Granted

“the court hereby adopts in full the Report and Recommendation of Magistrate Judge Zachary W. Carter, dated October 23, 1992 (‘Report and Recommendation’), and grants summary judgment in favor of defendants United States of America, Internal Revenue Service, United States Department of the Treasury, and United States Department of Education (‘DOE’).”

United States v. Comparato
· 1993-07-02
Summary judgment (United States) Granted

“Summary judgment is, therefore, granted in favor of the United States against Anthony and Mildred Comparato.”

United States v. Rodriguez
92-531 · 1994-01-03
Motions to dismiss (Renaldo Rodriguez) Denied

“Defendant’s motion to dismiss Count Four is denied.”

Gonzalez v. Rutherford Corp.
· 1995-03-31
Summary judgment (Rutherford Corporation) Granted in part

“the court hereby grants Rutherford’s motion for summary judgment as to plaintiffs claim of express warranty, but denies the motion in all other respects.”

Summary judgment (Daley-Hodkin Corporation) Granted

“It grants the motions of Daley-Hodkin and Pyramid Equipment Leasing and enters summary judgment in their favor on Rutherford’s third-party claim.”

Summary judgment (Pyramid Equipment Leasing Corporation) Granted

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

The five sampled terminated matters included employment, contract, and other civil disputes. Their filing-to-termination intervals were 1,078, 1,106, 1,421, 1,798, and 2,059 days, with a median of 1,421 days. This small early-tenure sample does not represent the full caseload.

A historical record

Judge Raggi no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.