Arun Subramanian
How Judge Subramanian decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Enforces forum-selection clauses in online terms of service: where a plaintiff's claims arise out of an agreement that designates a forum, he transfers to the chosen forum absent extraordinary circumstances, rather than reaching the merits.
“the motion to transfer is GRANTED.”
In PSLRA securities class actions he applies the statutory presumption mechanically: the lead-plaintiff contest turns on who has the largest financial interest and otherwise satisfies Rule 23, and an unrebutted presumption decides it. Movants should lead with their financial stake, not narrative.
“Schryver's motion to be appointed as lead plaintiff and to appoint Levi & Korinsky as lead counsel is GRANTED.”
Procedural preferences
Holds parties firmly to discovery deadlines and does not reward inattention. He denied a discovery-extension request and ordered production within 24 hours, pointedly noting a prior judge had already warned there would be no extensions and that the issue 'apparently was never attended to' despite an earlier on-consent 'one final extension.'
“The request for an extension is denied, and the documents from DOCCS should be produced within 24 hours. In June, Judge McMahon informed the parties that there would be no extensions of the September discovery deadline. ... At that time, the issue of paper discovery from the State Defendants was raised, but apparently was never attended to.”
Does not, as a regular practice, retain jurisdiction to enforce private settlements, and warns parties that if he does, the settlement agreement must be filed publicly -- a nudge toward clean Rule 41 dismissals without ongoing court entanglement.
“It is not this Court's regular practice to retain jurisdiction to enforce settlement agreements. If the parties think it is necessary for the Court to do so here, they should file a joint letter ... The parties should be aware that if this Court does retain jurisdiction, the settlement agreement will need to be filed publicly.”
Cautions
On a counseled summary-judgment motion he is willing to deny from the bench and move the case to trial: after oral argument he denied the state defendants' qualified-immunity MSJ in a Section 1983 parole/false-imprisonment case and set the joint pretrial order and trial schedule the same day. A defendant betting on summary judgment before Subramanian should be trial-ready.
“For the reasons discussed at today's hearing, the state defendants' motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”
Motion outcomes
Counted from classified signed orders only. Percentages are shown only where the sample is large enough to be meaningful; smaller samples are reported as raw counts.
| Lead plaintiff appointment N = 2 |
Granted: 1Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motions to transfer N = 1 |
Granted: 1 | counts only |
| Motion to intervene and transfer N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
A "1 of 1" is one ruling, not a tendency. Treat small samples as illustrative, not predictive.
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the motion to transfer is GRANTED.”
“Shih's motion to serve as lead plaintiff is DENIED.”
“Schryver's motion to be appointed as lead plaintiff and to appoint Levi & Korinsky as lead counsel is GRANTED.”
“The motion to intervene and transfer is DENIED without prejudice.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median motion-to-ruling time: 6 days (N = 5).
Subramanian was commissioned 2023-04-13, so his docket is young; many cases reaching him are reassignments from other judges (he inherited Rodriguez from McMahon and Hameed from Torres) or related-case referrals. The current docket page is 2026-heavy and dominated by a wave of alien-detainee habeas petitions (463), alongside copyright, ADA Title III, FLSA labor, contract, and a federal criminal docket. Terminated sample skews to civil-rights, transportation/treaty, copyright, and immigration matters that resolved by settlement or voluntary dismissal. Reflects current assignments + a small terminated sample, NOT a tenure-wide caseload.