Gerard Edmund Lynch

How Judge Lynch rules, drawn from 23 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Judge Lynch no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.

Court
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
Position
district
Status
Elevated to a higher court
Served
2000–2009
Appointed by
William J. Clinton (Democratic)
Commissioned
2000-05-25
Education
Columbia University, A.B., 1972; Columbia Law School, J.D., 1975
Signed orders read
23

How Judge Lynch decides

Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

What persuades

Lynch allowed securities aiding-and-abetting fraud claims to proceed when detailed allegations supported actual knowledge, even while dismissing negligence-based professional claims.

“the complaint must allege facts giving rise to a ‘strong inference’ of defendant’s actual knowledge of the fraud.”

He certified an overtime class when company-wide policies supplied common proof of job duties rather than requiring purely individualized inquiry.

“in none of them did plaintiffs offer substantial evidence, as they have here, of comprehensive corporate policies that defined the job’s duties.”

Procedural preferences

He enforced arbitration and forum-selection provisions while staying related court proceedings, separating challenges to the arbitration clause from attacks on the contract as a whole.

“the Arbitration Act envisages a distinction between the entire contract between the parties on the one hand and the arbitration clause of the contract on the other”

He protected settlement discussions from use at trial when their slight relevance was outweighed by the strong policy favoring candid negotiation.

“The policy behind Rule 408(a) is a strong one.”

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

Enron Corp. v. Citigroup, Inc. (In re Enron Creditors Recovery Corp.)
· 2008-03-17
Motion for leave to appeal (Citigroup) Denied

“Citigroup’s motions for leave to appeal and to withdraw the reference are denied.”

Motion to withdraw reference (Citigroup) Denied
Boyd v. AWB Ltd.
· 2008-03-25
Motions to dismiss (defendants AWB Limited and AWB (U.S.A.) Limited) Granted

“The motion will be granted.”

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Universal Express, Inc.
· 2008-04-18
Motion for contempt (Securities and Exchange Commission) Granted

“Accordingly, for the reasons stated above, the SEC’s motion for an adjudication of contempt is granted.”

In re Refco, Inc. Securities Litigation
· 2009-03-17
Motions to dismiss (Mayer Brown defendants) Granted

“Accordingly, the motions to dismiss must be granted.”

Thomas H. Lee Equity Fund V, L.P. v. Grant Thornton LLP
· 2008-08-06
Motions to dismiss (defendant Grant Thornton LLP) Granted in part

“The motion will be granted in part, and denied in part.”

Sarl Louis Feraud International v. Viewfinder Inc.
· 2008-12-19
Summary judgment (plaintiffs) Denied

“For the foregoing reasons, plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment is denied.”

Bender v. General Services Administration
· 2008-03-05
Motions to dismiss (defendants HWA Security Patrol, Inc. and Ariel Del Valle) Granted in part

“For the foregoing reasons, defendants’ motion to dismiss is denied with respect to the Fourth Amendment claim against defendant Del Valle, and granted as to all other claims against Del Valle and HWA.”

Shah v. Kuwait Airways Corp.
· 2009-09-09
Motion for partial summary judgment (defendant Kuwait Airways Corporation) Granted

“For the reasons set forth below, KAC’s motion for partial summary judgment is granted.”

In re Refco, Inc. Securities Litigation
· 2008-04-21
Motion to remand or abstain (plaintiff trustee) Denied

“For the foregoing reasons, plaintiffs motion to remand, or in the alternative, to abstain, is denied.”

National City Golf Finance v. Higher Ground Country Club Management Co.
· 2009-03-23
Motion to compel arbitration and stay (third-party defendant ProLink Solutions, LLC) Granted

“For the foregoing reasons, Third-Party Plaintiffs motion to stay the proceedings pending arbitration and to enforce the forum selection clause is granted.”

VDP Patent, LLC v. Welch Allyn Holdings, Inc.
· 2007-06-28
Summary judgment (defendants) Granted in part

“For the foregoing reasons, defendants’ motion for a judgment of noninfringement is granted as to the claim of literal infringement but denied as to the claim of infringement under the doctrine of equivalents.”

Sanders v. Madison Square Garden, L.P.
· 2007-09-05
Motion in limine (plaintiff) Granted

“Accordingly, plaintiffs motion to exclude evidence of the settlement discussions is granted.”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

The five sampled terminated matters included patent, contract, Social Security, and maritime disputes. Their filing-to-termination intervals were 157, 249, 426, 880, and 3,165 days, with a median of 426 days. The longest record was reopened and carries inconsistent case-level comparison dates, so this narrow early-tenure sample does not represent the full caseload.

A historical record

Judge Lynch no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.