John Peter Cronan
How Judge Cronan rules, drawn from 28 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Cronan
John Peter Cronan is a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Appointed by President Donald J. Trump, Judge Cronan received a commission on August 10, 2020.
Judge Cronan's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Cronan, 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.
- Individual Rules and Practices in Civil Cases ↗
- Individual Rules and Practices in Criminal Cases ↗
- Individual Rules and Practices for Pro Se Litigants ↗
- Civil Case Management Plan and Scheduling Order ↗
- Model Certification Regarding Use of Artificial Intelligence in Filings ↗
Key rules
Filing
Email chambers electronic courtesy copies of pleadings, correspondence, and motion papers when serving them.
“D. Courtesy Copies. Regarding all pleadings, correspondence, and motion papers, including exhibits submitted in connection with a motion, a party shall submit an electronic courtesy copy via e-mail to Chambers at the time the papers are served. Paper courtesy copies”
Motions
Before filing a civil motion, submit a pre-motion letter of at most three pages unless the court orders otherwise.
“A. Pre-Motion Letters in Civil Cases. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, a party seeking to file a motion must submit a pre-motion letter in accordance with 1.A above, not to exceed three pages in length absent leave of the Court, notifying the Court of its anticipated motion, summarizing the basis for the anticipated motion, and proposing a briefing schedule. All parties”
Discovery
After meeting and conferring, raise a discovery dispute by an ECF letter-motion of no more than three pages.
“modifications. Any party wishing to raise a discovery dispute with the Court must first confer in good faith with the opposing party, in person or by telephone, in an effort to resolve the dispute. If this meet-and-confer process does not resolve the dispute, a party may raise the dispute with the Court by filing a letter-motion on ECF, no longer than three pages, explaining the nature of the dispute. Such a letter must include a representation that the meet-and-confer process occurred and”
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 Cronan decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Moore v. Cohen, the court enforced a signed consent agreement to reject Roy Moore’s claims arising from a televised interview. The ruling applied the agreement’s waiver to his causes of action.
“The Court agrees that Judge Moore’s claims are barred by the unambiguous contractual language, which precludes the very causes of action he now brings.”
Procedural preferences
In this case, he found that the plaintiffs had not adequately pleaded an injury in fact and therefore lacked Article III standing.
“Without adequately pleading an injury-in-fact, Plaintiffs do not have Article III standing.”
In a pseudonymity request, he weighed the relevant factors and denied the motion because the plaintiff had not overcome the presumption that she must sue under her own name.
“After careful review of the relevant factors, the Court finds that Plaintiff has not met her burden of rebutting the presumption that she must proceed under her own name.”
In one produce trust contempt dispute, the judge agreed to seek volunteer counsel for the defendant for a settlement conference after considering a complex injunction, language difficulties, and the possibility of confinement. The order did not guarantee that a lawyer would take the case.
“Lee’s Application for the Court to Request Counsel is granted.”
In X Corp. v. James, the court denied a third party's intervention request where the plaintiff already pursued the same objective and the applicant showed no inadequate representation; the court also found permissive intervention would complicate the case.
“McCray fails to establish that his interest is inadequately protected by the parties to the action.”
In Tipan Villegas v. D1 Installation Corp., he denied substitution without prejudice while no estate representative had been appointed, allowed renewal after appointment, and extended the Rule 25 deadline until then.
“Plaintiff may renew its motion once a representative of Mr. Kalamaras’s estate has been appointed, and the Court extends the Rule 25(a) deadline until 90 days after that time.”
Cautions
In a securities case, denied a third amendment after the second amended pleading repeated defects the court had already identified and the plaintiffs offered no further facts.
“Second Amended Complaint repleads many of the same deficient allegations, and its new material does not resolve the prior Complaint’s deficiencies.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the Court grants summary judgment on all claims in favor of Defendants, and dismisses Plaintiffs’ claims with prejudice.”
“The Court grants Defendants’ motion for summary judgment as to the excess force claims, medical needs and conditions of confinement claims, any failure to intervene claims, and any claims against the City of New York, and dismisses those claims with prejudice. The Court finds that there remain material questions of fact as to Plaintiff’s sexual abuse claim against C.O. Young, and denies Defendants’ motion for summary judgment as to that claim.”
“also denies without prejudice Defendants’ request to dismiss that remaining claim pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b).”
“Plaintiff’s motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction is granted.”
“Defendant’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim and motion for a filing injunction are both denied without prejudice as moot.”
“Plaintiff’s motion to proceed pseudonymously is denied”
“Defendants’ motion to dismiss is granted in part and denied in part.”
“the Court grants BitFuFu’s motion to dismiss to the extent that Alta’s claims are based on causes of action acquired from NAIM and otherwise denies the motion.”
“the Court grants Supergoop’s motion and dismisses the Second Amended Complaint without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.”
“the Court grants Defendant’s motion to dismiss Plaintiff’s NYSHRL claims but denies Defendant’s motion to dismiss Plaintiff’s Title VII and ADEA claims relating to her termination.”
“The Court also denies Plaintiff leave to file a Second Amended Complaint.”
“Nexstar’s motion to dismiss is granted in part and denied in part”
“Mitchell’s motion to dismiss is denied in its entirety.”
“Lee’s Application for the Court to Request Counsel is granted.”
“Court grants the motion in part and denies it in part.”
“the parties’ requests for oral argument, Dkts. 40, 42, are denied as moot.”
“Defendant’s motion for summary judgment is granted”
“Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment is denied”
“Defendant’s request for argument, Dkt. 58, is denied as moot.”
“Defendants’ motion to dismiss is granted, and the Second Amended Complaint is dismissed with prejudice.”
“Plaintiffs’ request to file a third amended complaint is thus denied.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- Case-level sample of 21 dockets.
- His visible docket slate is heavy on 2019-2021 civil cases (many reassigned to him after his August 2020 commission) plus inherited older criminal matters; the mix runs to employment / ADA civil rights, consumer-credit (FDCPA), commercial contract, insurance, and labor (ERISA/LMRA benefit-fund collections), alongside criminal dockets.
- Representative early-tenure intake, not a grant context.
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 | 26 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 26 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 18 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 18 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 15 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 16 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 16 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 12 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 19 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 15 |
| Sep 2021 | 3 | 8 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 6 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 2 |
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 Cronan: 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 Cronan with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Cronan, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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