Carla B. Freedman
How Judge Freedman rules, drawn from 15 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Freedman
Carla B. Freedman became a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of New York on February 11, 2026. She previously served as United States Attorney for the district from October 2021 through February 2025, after working there as an Assistant United States Attorney. She earned degrees from Syracuse University and New York Law School.
Judge Freedman's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Freedman's own (checked October 9, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
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 9, 2026).
- General Order 14: Civil RICO Statement ↗
- General Order 15: Uniform Procedure for Civil and Criminal Forfeiture Cases ↗
- General Order 18: Social Security Docket Assignment, Management, and Filing Requirements ↗
- General Order 22: Administrative Procedures for Electronic Case Filing ↗
- General Order 25: Civil Case Assignment and Filing Order ↗
- General Order 47: Mandatory Mediation Program ↗
- General Order 52: Letters Regarding Sentencings ↗
- General Order 62: Procedures for Filing, Service and Management of Highly Sensitive Documents ↗
How Judge Freedman decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
Recommends dismissing a prisoner complaint without prejudice for failure to exhaust administrative remedies, granting judgment on the pleadings in part on that basis.
“issued a Report-Recommendation and Order recommending that Defendants' motion be granted in part, and that the Complaint be dismissed without prejudice due to Plaintiff's failure to exhaust his administrative remedies ... the Report-Recommendation, Dkt. No. 76, is ADOPTED in its entirety ... Defendants' motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to FRCP 12(c), Dkt. No. 53, is GRANTED in part ... Plaintiff's Complaint, Dkt. No. 1, is DISMISSED without prejudice”
For a municipal-liability claim, she requires facts plausibly connecting the alleged constitutional violation to a municipal policy or custom; conclusory attribution to the county is insufficient.
“Plaintiff’s third amended complaint fails to plausibly attribute the alleged violation of his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights while housed at the Ulster County Jail to any policy or custom of the County of Ulster; therefore, the pleading fails to state a claim of municipal liability against the Defendant County of Ulster.”
Cautions
In Hanyon v. State of New York, Freedman granted in forma pauperis status and recommended dismissal of the complaint; the district judge accepted the dismissal with a modification denying leave to amend.
“U.S. Magistrate Judge Carla B. Freedman granted plaintiff's IFP Application and advised by Report & Recommendation ('R&R') that plaintiff's complaint be dismissed ... The Report & Recommendation (Dkt. No. 18) is ACCEPTED as modified ... Plaintiff's complaint is DISMISSED without leave to amend”
In Bishop, Freedman denied discovery of a confidential correctional directive because the prisoner gave only a conclusory statement of relevance to his retaliation claim.
“However, other than this conclusory statement, Plaintiff offers no explanation as to how Directive 4900 is relevant to his claim of retaliation”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“issued a Report-Recommendation and Order recommending that Defendants' motion be granted in part, and that the Complaint be dismissed without prejudice due to Plaintiff's failure to exhaust his administrative remedies ... the Report-Recommendation, Dkt. No. 76, is ADOPTED in its entirety ... Defendants' motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to FRCP 12(c), Dkt. No. 53, is GRANTED in part ... Plaintiff's Complaint, Dkt. No. 1, is DISMISSED without prejudice”
“U.S. Magistrate Judge Carla B. Freedman granted plaintiff's IFP Application and advised by Report & Recommendation ('R&R') that plaintiff's complaint be dismissed ... The Report & Recommendation (Dkt. No. 18) is ACCEPTED as modified ... Plaintiff's complaint is DISMISSED without leave to amend”
“The Report & Recommendation (Dkt. No. 80) is ACCEPTED; ... Defendant County of Ulster’s motion to dismiss (Dkt. No. 72) is GRANTED; and ... Plaintiff’s third amended complaint (Dkt. No. 67) is DISMISSED without leave to further amend.”
“Plaintiff’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis (Dkt. No. 2) is GRANTED”
“Plaintiff’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis (Dkt. No. 12) is GRANTED”
“RECOMMENDED that Plaintiff’s motion for judgment on the pleadings (Dkt. No. 10) be DENIED”
“RECOMMENDED that Defendant’s motion for judgment on the pleadings (Dkt. No. 16) be GRANTED”
“RECOMMENDED that Plaintiff’s motion for judgment on the pleadings (Dkt. No. 11) be DENIED”
“RECOMMENDED that the Commissioner’s motion for judgment on the pleadings (Dkt. No. 14) be GRANTED”
“ORDERED that Plaintiff’s IFP application (Dkt. No. 2) is GRANTED.”
“ORDERED that Plaintiff’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis (Dkt. No. 2) is GRANTED”
“ORDERED that Plaintiff’s IFP application (Dkt. No. 3) is GRANTED;”
“ORDERED that Plaintiff’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis (Dkt. No. 2) is GRANTED,”
“ORDERED that Plaintiff’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis (Dkt. No. 2) is GRANTED,”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The sampled post-appointment matters include Social Security appeals and criminal duty cases. Some appeals have judgment entries, but the sampled case records have no reliable termination dates, so completed-case durations are unavailable.
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 |
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 United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, not for Judge Freedman: 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 | 1,302 | 8.4 months |
| Closed with no court action | 227 | 4.2 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 796 | 7.4 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 267 | 17.2 months |
| Closed during trial | 12 | 53.8 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 1,302 | 8.4 months |
| Sep 2024 | 1,393 | 7.7 months |
| Sep 2023 | 1,249 | 7.9 months |
| Sep 2022 | 1,444 | 12 months |
| Sep 2021 | 1,120 | 10.2 months |
| Sep 2020 | 1,195 | 8.6 months |
| Sep 2019 | 1,187 | 9 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).
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