Jennifer H. Rearden
How Judge Rearden rules, drawn from 26 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Rearden
Jennifer Hutchison Rearden is a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Appointed by President Joseph R. Biden, Judge Rearden received a commission on October 7, 2022.
Judge Rearden's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Rearden, 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.
- Civil Case Management Plan and Scheduling Order ↗
- Individual Rules and Practices in Civil Cases ↗
- Individual Rules And Practices in Civil Pro Se Cases ↗
- Individual Rules of Practices in Criminal Cases ↗
- Model Protective Order ↗
Key rules
Filing
After a motion is fully submitted, the movant must send chambers two hard courtesy sets of all motion papers.
“E. Courtesy Copies. Once a motion has been fully submitted, the movant shall provide two courtesy hard copies of all motion papers (including any oppositions, replies, declarations, and exhibits) to Chambers by mail or delivery to Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10007 and”
Motions
Civil pre-motion conferences are held only for discovery-related motions.
“A. Pre-Motion Conferences in Civil Cases. A pre-motion conference is required only for discovery-related motions (including discovery letter-motions addressed in Rule 3.C). A pre-motion conference will not be held for any other motion. To arrange a pre-motion conference, follow Rule 3.C governing discovery disputes.”
Discovery
After an in-person, virtual, or telephone conference, file an ECF discovery-dispute letter-motion of no more than six double-spaced pages.
“the following modifications: Any party wishing to raise a discovery dispute with the Court must first confer in good faith with the opposing party—in person, virtually, or by telephone—in an effort to resolve the dispute. Conferring in writing does not satisfy this requirement. If the dispute is not resolved, the party may file a letter- motion on ECF pursuant to Rule 5.I below, not to exceed six double-spaced pages, explaining the nature of the dispute and requesting an informal conference. Such a”
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 Rearden decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Howell, she reduced a recommended emotional distress award after comparing the plaintiff’s shorter period of workplace exposure with the longer exposure in the cited cases.
“Plaintiff apparently was only present for 32 days in the workplace where he experienced unlawful conduct—considerably less time than the plaintiffs in the comparator cases.”
Procedural preferences
In a removed case with unresolved jurisdiction and venue questions, she denied the defendant’s summary-judgment motion without prejudice to renewal and ordered the parties to address remand or transfer.
“Defendant's motion for summary judgment is hereby denied without prejudice to renewal”
Assesses probable cause from information available before arrest rather than the later disposition of charges; an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal does not establish that the arrest lacked probable cause.
“Probable cause hinges on the information that was available to officers prior to the arrest, not on whether Plaintiff was ultimately prosecuted for a crime.”
In Khudai, she found that the plaintiff waived further review by filing no objections after a clear warning, then reviewed the recommendation for clear error and adopted it.
“Where parties receive clear notice of the consequences, failure timely to object to a magistrate’s report and recommendation operates as a waiver of further judicial review of the magistrate’s decision.”
In Pjetrovic, she required a memorandum of law and proof of service before considering default judgment, denying the application without prejudice to renewal.
“Plaintiff did not file the requisite memorandum of law or an affidavit of service of the motion for a default judgment.”
When dismissal papers against a pro se litigant relied on material beyond the complaint, she denied the motions without prejudice until the defendants supplied the required notice of possible summary-judgment treatment. Both sides received new briefing deadlines.
“CMP’s and Dermot’s failure to comply with Local Rule 12.1 ‘constitute[s] grounds for denial of [their] motion[s] without prejudice to later renewal once the[y] ha[ve] come into compliance.’”
After dismissing fraud and negligent-misrepresentation claims that duplicated a contract claim, she allowed the plaintiff to amend because the proposed pleading might still state a viable claim.
“the Court cannot rule out that Plaintiff may ‘ha[ve] at least colorable grounds for relief’ in connection with its fraud and negligent misrepresentation claims.”
In Strike 3, she permitted a subpoena to identify an unknown copyright defendant before the usual discovery conference after finding good cause, while limiting the identifying information and allowing a challenge before disclosure.
“Strike 3 has established good cause to serve a third-party subpoena on John Doe’s ISP and to do so prior to a Rule 26(f) conference.”
Cautions
In one pro se case, after two unanswered opportunities to show cause, Rearden dismissed for failure to prosecute and declined to give leave to amend on her own initiative because better pleading would not cure the substantive defect.
“the Court declines to do so here sua sponte because the problem with Plaintiff’s claim ‘is substantive . . . [and] better pleading will not cure it.’”
In Harrison, she denied a request to reopen a failure-to-prosecute dismissal after multiple deadline extensions and explicit warnings; a delay of more than a year and counsel’s office mistakes did not justify Rule 60(b) relief.
“For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiff’s motion to vacate the November 26, 2024 order of dismissal is DENIED.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendant's motion for summary judgment is hereby denied without prejudice to renewal”
“For the reasons set forth above, Defendants’ motion for summary judgment on Counts One through Four, and Counts Fifteen, Sixteen, and Eighteen, is GRANTED. Plaintiff’s remaining causes of action (Counts Five and Seventeen) are DISMISSED without prejudice to refile in a state court of appropriate jurisdiction.”
“Accordingly, the Report and Recommendation is ADOPTED in its entirety.”
“Plaintiff’s motion for a default judgment is denied without prejudice to renewal.”
“Specifically, the Court hereby adopts Judge Stein’s recommendations that ‘(1) judgment be entered against Defendant QED Connect, Inc. on Plaintiff’s claims for securities fraud, common law fraud, and breach of contract; (2) judgment be entered against Defendant Nanny Katharina Bahnsen on Plaintiff’s claims for securities fraud and common law fraud; (3) the remaining claims against QED and Bahnsen be dismissed; and (4) all claims against Defendant David Rumbold be dismissed.’”
“For the foregoing reasons, the Petition is granted in part.”
“CMP’s and Dermot’s failure to comply with Local Rule 12.1 ‘constitute[s] grounds for denial of [their] motion[s] without prejudice to later renewal once the[y] ha[ve] come into compliance.’”
“In light of the Court’s denial of CMP’s motion to dismiss, its motion for judicial notice in further support of its motion to dismiss (ECF No. 40) is DENIED as moot.”
“the CMP Defendants’ and the Dermot Defendants’ motions to dismiss are GRANTED, and Plaintiff’s Complaint is DISMISSED without prejudice.”
“Defendant’s motion for summary judgment, ECF No. 91, is GRANTED and Plaintiff’s motion, ECF No. 88, is DENIED”
“both motions to exclude expert testimony, ECF Nos. 85 and 99 are DENIED as moot”
“Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment is DENIED, and Defendants’ cross-motion for summary judgment is GRANTED.”
“Before the Court is Defendants’ motion for summary judgment (ECF No. 57). For reasons that will follow, Defendants’ motion is granted.”
“Before the Court is Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss the Fourth and Fifth Claims for Relief (ECF No. 33). For reasons that will follow, Defendant’s motion is granted.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- Reflects assignment mix rather than measured outcomes.
- Rearden was commissioned in October 2022, so much of her current docket consists of cases reassigned to her from predecessor judges.
- Her 2026 assignments are dominated by a wave of alien-detainee habeas petitions plus Schedule-A trademark and copyright enforcement suits; her inherited older docket (filed 2018-2020) includes civil-rights, employment-discrimination, copyright, and Federal Tort Claims Act matters that she carried to judgment.
- Case durations are not reported because the sampled cases were filed years before her commission and span predecessor judges, so a filing-to-termination span would not reflect her own time on the case.
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 | 59 |
| 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 | 36 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 59 | 36 |
| Sep 2025 | 104 | 33 |
| Mar 2025 | 103 | 30 |
| Sep 2024 | 86 | 25 |
| Mar 2024 | 47 | 25 |
| Sep 2023 | 6 | 18 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 12 |
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 Rearden: 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).
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