Cathy Seibel
How Judge Seibel rules, drawn from 25 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Seibel
Cathy Seibel is a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Judge Seibel received a commission on July 30, 2008. Judge Seibel assumed senior status on November 3, 2025.
Judge Seibel's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Seibel, 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
Contacting chambers
Email chambers a PDF of every letter filed on ECF.
“letter is filed electronically on ECF, a PDF of the filed version of that letter must also be e-mailed to [email protected]. Failure to email a PDF courtesy copy may mean that the letter does not come to the Court’s”
Motions
Most nondiscovery motions require a pre-motion conference, subject to the listed exceptions.
“A pre-motion conference with the Court is required before making any other motion, except motions for admission pro hac vice, motions for reargument or reconsideration, motions for temporary restraining orders or preliminary injunctions, motions pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(c)(2), or motions for which the Court has already set a briefing schedule. To arrange a pre-motion conference,”
Conferences
File adjournment or extension requests as ECF letter-motions and email a PDF courtesy copy.
“D. Requests for Adjournments or Extensions of Time. All requests for adjournments or extensions of time shall be by letter and must (unless to be sealed or containing sensitive/confidential information or the party lacks access to the ECF system) be filed on ECF as letter-motions, with a PDF courtesy copy to chambers as described in item 1.A above. All requests for adjournment or”
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 8, 2026).
- Amended Standing Order on Highly Sensitive Documents ↗
- Second Amended Standing Order on Civil Case Opening ↗
- Amended Standing Order on Miscellaneous Civil Case Opening ↗
- Standing Order on Applications to File a Civil Case Under Seal ↗
- Standing Order on Emergency Relief and Section 2255 Filing Procedures ↗
- Notice on Immigration Custody Habeas Petitions and Emergency Relief ↗
How Judge Seibel decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
A municipal failure-to-train claim must identify a concrete program deficiency and connect it causally to the alleged constitutional injury.
“Plaintiff must identify a specific deficiency in the village’s training program and establish that deficiency is closely related to the ultimate injury such that it actually caused the constitutional deprivation.”
Procedural preferences
She evaluates amendment requests for delay, bad faith, repeated pleading failures, prejudice, and futility while applying Rule 15's liberal standard.
“Leave to amend, though liberally granted, may properly be denied for: ‘undue delay, bad faith or dilatory motive on the part of the movant, repeated failure to cure deficiencies by amendments previously allowed, undue prejudice to the opposing party by virtue of allowance of the amendment, futility of amendment, etc.’”
Cautions
A request to replead should explain how new allegations would cure the identified defect; a substantive deficiency makes amendment futile.
“the problem with her claims ‘is substantive[,] ... better pleading will not cure it,’ and ‘[r]epleading would thus be futile.’”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the village defendant’s motion is granted as to D’Agata and Gorr and denied as to the village.”
“Zangala’s motion 4s denied.”
“Plaintiffs motion is denied as to D’Aga-ta, Gorr and the village but granted as to Zangla. -”
“For the reasons stated above, Defendants’ motion to dismiss is GRANTED.”
“For the reasons stated above, the Order of the Bankruptcy Court is AFFIRMED.”
“For the reasons stated above, Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs Second Amended Complaint is GRANTED.”
“For the reasons stated above, the Bankruptcy Court’s Claim # 18 Order is VACATED, and the case is REMANDED for further proceedings.”
“For the reasons stated above, Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED.”
“For the reasons stated above, Defendants’ Motion to dismiss is GRANTED and the Complaint is dismissed in its entirety.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART, and Plaintiffs Cross-Motion is GRANTED.”
“For the reasons stated above, Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED.”
“Accordingly, Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment is DENIED, Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED, and the case is dismissed.”
“For the reasons stated above, Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs’ Second Amended Complaint is GRANTED.”
“Accordingly, Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction is GRANTED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 170 days (N = 8).
Among the eight sampled 2018 cases, five involved labor, employment, or disability-access claims and two involved prisoner matters. A separate 2023 wage-and-hour case supplied three additional motion outcomes. This small selection does not establish the judge’s overall case mix.
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 | 13 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 13 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 13 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 9 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 7 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 12 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 12 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 17 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 16 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 13 |
| Sep 2021 | 1 | 12 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 16 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 10 |
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 Southern District of New York, not for Judge Seibel: 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 | 9,565 | 5.6 months |
| Closed with no court action | 1,749 | 3.5 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 6,416 | 5.1 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 1,313 | 14.1 months |
| Closed during trial | 87 | 51.7 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 9,565 | 5.6 months |
| Sep 2024 | 10,695 | 6.4 months |
| Sep 2023 | 10,316 | 5.6 months |
| Sep 2022 | 11,818 | 6.1 months |
| Sep 2021 | 10,662 | 5.7 months |
| Sep 2020 | 10,118 | 6.6 months |
| Sep 2019 | 11,357 | 6.6 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 Seibel with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Seibel, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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