Lawrence E. Kahn
How Judge Kahn rules, drawn from 19 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Kahn
Lawrence E. Kahn is a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York. Appointed by President William J. Clinton, Judge Kahn received a commission on August 1, 1996. Judge Kahn assumed senior status on August 1, 2007.
Judge Kahn's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Kahn'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 Kahn decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In an asphalt-business asset sale dispute, he let the buyer’s contract claims proceed after reading the disclosure clause to reach outside events that affected purchased asset value, including a new competitor.
“unambiguously applies to extrinsic events that negatively impact the value of the purchased assets.”
Procedural preferences
In a product liability suit involving foreign manufacturers, he deferred a personal jurisdiction dismissal and gave the plaintiffs ninety days of focused discovery into the manufacturers’ New York contacts and roles.
“ninety (90) days to conduct discovery limited to the issue of personal jurisdiction as it relates to the Foreign Defendants’ relationship to New York State, the Foreign Defendants’ individual roles in the manufacturing of the machine in question, and whether the exercise of personal jurisdiction over the Foreign Defendants would comport with due process.”
Cautions
In a noncompete dispute, he denied a preliminary injunction despite a contractual declaration of irreparable harm because the plaintiff had not shown imminent loss that money damages could not remedy.
“Plaintiff has failed to show that it is suffering imminent harm or that its injuries could not be remedied by money damages.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendants' Motion to Dismiss, Dkt. No. 33, is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part ... Motion to Dismiss on Plaintiffs' claims of fraud in the inducement and failure to perform, is GRANTED”
“Dugan's Motion for Summary Judgment (Dkt. No. 106) is GRANTED; and it is further ORDERED, that Dugan is DISMISSED as a defendant herein”
“Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (Dkt. No. 28) is GRANTED as to Plaintiff's Fourteenth Amendment medical indifference claim against Kinter and DENIED as to Plaintiff's Fourteenth Amendment excessive force claim against Newell and Baker”
“the motion for summary judgment and partial motion to dismiss, Dkt. No. 25, is DENIED”
“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that on 09/30/2022 Senior Judge Lawrence E. Kahn GRANTED Defendants Elizabeth White’s and Geraldine Wilson’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Dkt. No. 59) and DISMISSED the Complaint (Dkt. No. 1) in its entirety without leave to amend”
“ORDERED, that Defendant’s motion to dismiss Count 1 of the Indictment as violating the Speedy Trial Act is GRANTED without prejudice”
“ORDERED, that Defendant’s motion to dismiss Count 2 of the Indictment for lack of jurisdiction is GRANTED”
“the Court concludes that Defendant has no expectation of privacy in the apartment of Shelly Flora and denies Defendant’s motion to suppress and Defendant’s request for a Franks hearing to determine the validity and veracity of the information which led to the issuance of the search warrant.”
“ORDERED, that Defendant’s omnibus motion is DENIED in all other respects”
“ORDERED, that this action is DISMISSED, and it is further ORDERED, that Defendant’s Motion to dismiss (Dkt. No. 21) is DENIED as moot”
“ORDERED, that Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss be GRANTED in part and DENIED in part; and it is further ORDERED, that Defendants Motion to Dismiss be GRANTED, and the Plaintiff’s Complaint DISMISSED without prejudice as to Defendants Bayne, Uhler, and Morley. If Plaintiff wishes to file an amended complaint, he must do so within forty-five (45) days of this Memorandum-Decision and Order; and it is further ORDERED, that Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss be DENIED as to Defendant Downer”
“ORDERED, that Plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary Injunctive Relief (Dkt. No. 22) be DENIED without prejudice”
“ORDERED, that Plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, Dkt. No. 4, is hereby DENIED”
“ORDERED, that Plaintiff’s Motion for a preliminary injunction (Dkt. No. 4) is DENIED”
“ORDERED, that Plaintiffs’ Cross-Motion to file the proposed Third Amended Master Consolidated Complaint (Dkt. No. 331) is GRANTED”
“Accordingly, Plaintiff’s Motion for Reconsideration is denied in its entirety.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 285.5 days (N = 8).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 179.0 days (N = 4).
Kahn's reviewed senior-status docket is weighted toward Social Security disability appeals, Federal Tort Claims Act suits, state-prisoner habeas petitions, self-represented civil-rights cases, and occasional diversity commercial or contract disputes. Many matters proceeded through magistrate-judge referrals.
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 | 0 | 10 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 14 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 31 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 38 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 44 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 62 |
| Sep 2022 | 3 | 72 |
| Mar 2022 | 6 | 75 |
| Sep 2021 | 2 | 49 |
| Mar 2021 | 1 | 42 |
| Sep 2020 | 1 | 43 |
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 Kahn: 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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