Steven I. Locke
How Judge Locke rules, drawn from 14 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Locke
Steven I. Locke has served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York since August 2014. Based in Central Islip, he earned degrees from Tufts University and Hofstra University School of Law and previously clerked for Judge Arthur D. Spatt.
Judge Locke's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Locke, 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
Filing
Send one hard copy of motion papers after electronic filing.
“After electronic filing, one hard copy of the motion papers shall be submitted to Judge Locke.”
Conferences
File an adjournment or extension request electronically as a motion at least two business days in advance absent an emergency.
“All requests for adjournments or extensions of time must be made in writing and filed electronically as motions at least two business days prior to the scheduled appearance, absent an emergency.”
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 Locke decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Tal v. Computech International, Locke recommended dismissing the post-employment commission claim because Tal had not pleaded an agreement expressly providing for those commissions under New York law. The district judge adopted the recommendation after de novo review of Tal's objection.
“[Tal] neglects to allege that post-employment commissions were expressly provided for in the parties’ agreement, which is legally required under New York law, and thus fails to establish Defendant’s breach of contract.”
In Nedspice US v. Castella Imports, Locke granted the default-judgment motion on the breach-of-contract claim, awarding $189,393 in damages, but denied it on the other claims. The district judge adopted the recommendation.
“I grant plaintiff’s motion as to the breach of contract claim and award plaintiff: (i) $189,393 in damages ... I deny plaintiff’s motion as to all other claims.”
In a directly decided negligence case, he denied summary judgment because photographs and testimony left the cause of a fall and the county’s fault for a jury to resolve.
“Ultimately, this is a question of fact to be resolved by the jury and Defendant’s motion for summary judgment is denied.”
Procedural preferences
Several Long Island district judges adopted his reports and recommendations. In the cited unobjected tax case, the district judge reviewed the recommendation for clear error before adopting it.
“Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b) and Fed. R. Civ. P. 72, this Court has reviewed the Report and Recommendation for clear error, and finding none, now concurs in both its reasoning and its result.”
Cautions
In this service dispute, he recommended quashing service for several defendants while allowing the plaintiff thirty days to serve them properly.
“the Motion to Quash Service of Process pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(5) is granted as to Defendants Bruce Klein, Matthew Olugbenga Aworeni, and Honeyfield Investments Ltd.; and (3) Plaintiff shall have 30 days from the date of this Order to properly serve”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED (1) the government’s motion for a default judgment be granted in its entirety; (2) a judgment be entered in favor of the Government against defendant Steven D. Silverman for unpaid Internal Revenue taxes, penalties and interest in the amount of $51, 251.88”
“the Court ADOPTS Judge Locke’s R&R (Docket Entry 24) in its entirety. Plaintiff’s motion (Docket Entry 19) is GRANTED and Plaintiff is awarded $858,172.00 in monetary damages, $14,444.50 in attorneys’ fees, and $660.00 in costs.”
“the R&R is adopted in its entirety. The Plaintiff may move for attorneys’ fees within thirty days of the date of this Order.”
“Accordingly, I grant plaintiff’s motion for default judgment in part and deny it in part. I grant plaintiff’s motion as to the breach of contract claim and award plaintiff: (i) $189,393 in damages ... I deny plaintiff’s motion as to all other claims.”
“Accordingly, Computech’s motion to dismiss is granted in its entirety, and Tal is granted leave to amend his complaint.”
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that (1) the Motion to Quash Service of Process pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(5) is denied as to Defendant John Tidrow; (2) the Motion to Quash Service of Process pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(5) is granted as to Defendants Bruce Klein, Matthew Olugbenga Aworeni, and Honeyfield Investments Ltd.”
“For the reasons set forth herein, the Court respectfully recommends that the Moving Defendants’ Motions be granted without prejudice as to Plaintiffs’ claims under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment, and with prejudice as to their Second Amendment cause of action, and the Complaint dismissed as to the Moving Defendants.”
“Having reviewed the motion papers, the applicable law, and the R&R, I adopt the thorough and well-reasoned R&R's recommendation that the Court grant Plaintiffs' Motion for Default Judgment and award the recommended damages and injunctive relief and grant Plaintiffs leave to file an updated application for additional accrued interest, attorneys' fees, and costs.”
“Defendant's motion for summary judgment is denied.”
“the Court recommends that Defendant’s motion to dismiss be denied in its entirety.”
“For the reasons set forth herein, Defendant’s motion for summary judgment is denied.”
“For the reasons set forth herein, the Court respectfully recommends that Plaintiff’s motion for a default judgment be granted.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- An Eastern District of New York referral magistrate in Central Islip on Long Island.
- A sample of his currently assigned (pending) dockets shows a Long Island civil mix: employment and civil-rights cases, FLSA labor suits, out-of-network medical-provider reimbursement and insurance disputes, copyright, prisoner conditions, commercial and trade-secret, and general civil matters.
- Consistent with the sampled recommendations, his referral diet runs heavily to default judgments, service and jurisdiction motions, and discovery supervision.
- The mix is qualitative, 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 | 10 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 10 |
| Sep 2025 | 1 | 12 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 10 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 9 |
| Mar 2024 | 1 | 10 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 8 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 10 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 13 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 18 |
| Sep 2021 | 1 | 17 |
| Mar 2021 | 3 | 16 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 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 Locke: 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 Locke with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Locke, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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