Philip Morgan Halpern

How Judge Halpern rules, drawn from 7 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Court
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
Position
district
Appointed by
Donald Trump (Republican)
Commissioned
2020-02-21
Education
Fordham University (B.S., 1977, magna cum laude); Pace University School of Law, now the Elisabeth Haub School of Law (J.D., 1980)
Signed orders read
7

How Judge Halpern decides

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

What persuades

On summary judgment he holds the movant to the genuine-dispute standard and will deny where a reasonable jury could find for the non-movant, e.g. on a comparator-based discrimination theory, but will grant where the record lacks dispositive proof of an essential element (here, formation of a partnership/joint venture).

“Dispositive proof of an agreement to form a partnership/joint venture is utterly lacking and the evidence in the record fails to create a genuine dispute of material fact as to the indispensable elements of the claims.”

Procedural preferences

He polices threshold defenses rigorously and will dismiss on jurisdiction before reaching the merits: he dismissed a trade-secret complaint outright for failure to plead a prima facie basis for personal jurisdiction under New York's long-arm statute. A plaintiff suing out-of-state defendants before him should plead the CPLR 302 jurisdictional predicates with care.

“Plaintiff has not pled facts suggesting prima facie personal jurisdiction over Defendants pursuant to N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 302(a)(3)(ii).”

He enforces procedural deadlines strictly, denying a reconsideration motion as untimely even while ruling for that same party on the underlying motion to dismiss.

“Accordingly, Plaintiff's motion for reconsideration is denied as untimely.”

Signed rulings

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

Skanska USA Building Inc. v. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
7:23-cv-08418 (PMH) · 2024-07-01
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“Based upon the foregoing, Defendant's motion to dismiss the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Claims for Relief is GRANTED.”

Yak v. BiggerPockets, L.L.C.
7:19-cv-05394 (PMH) · 2020-09-10
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“Defendants’ motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint is GRANTED.”

Fuentes v. Goord
7:23-cv-09464 (PMH) · 2025-06-09
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted in part

“Defendants’ motion to dismiss is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.”

Corbia v. Port Chester-Rye Union Free School District
7:23-cv-08227 (PMH) · 2024-12-05
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted in part

“the motion to dismiss is DENIED as to the First Amendment claim for relief. The motion is GRANTED as to all other claims for relief.”

Doe v. King
7:20-cv-02331 (PMH) · 2021-09-13
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Denied

“Defendants’ motion to dismiss is DENIED.”

Motion for reconsideration (plaintiff) Denied

“Plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration is DENIED.”

Emanuel v. Gap, Inc.
7:19-cv-03617 (PMH) · 2023-08-14
Summary judgment (defendant) Denied

“Defendants’ motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”

Lee v. Golaszewski
7:23-cv-10695 (PMH) · 2025-07-24
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted

“Defendants’ motion for summary judgment (Doc. 79) is GRANTED.”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

A case-level sample of 21 dockets, his first-wave (2020) White Plains assignments, now terminated, a representative early-tenure intake, not a grant context. Mix is heavy on commercial/contract, insurance (including COVID-era business-interruption), patent, product liability, consumer-credit/FDCPA, fraud, employment civil rights, and immigration/habeas.

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Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Halpern, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.

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