Sarah Netburn
How Judge Netburn rules, drawn from 12 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Netburn
Sarah Netburn has served as a U.S. magistrate judge for the Southern District of New York since August 2012. She earned a bachelor's degree from Brown University and a law degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. Before joining the bench, she led the court's office for people representing themselves and practiced civil rights law.
Judge Netburn's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Netburn, 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.
- Case Management Plan and Scheduling Order (Fillable) ↗
- Individual Rules of Practice in Civil Cases ↗
- Procedures for Cases Referred for Settlement ↗
Key rules
Contacting chambers
Letters may not exceed five pages, excluding exhibits.
“Letters may not exceed 5 pages in length (exclusive of exhibits). Letters solely between parties or their counsel or otherwise not addressed to the Court may not be filed on ECF or otherwise sent to the Court (except as exhibits to an otherwise properly filed document).”
Filing
The movant must submit one marked courtesy copy of all motion papers after full briefing.
“B. Courtesy Copies. One courtesy copy of all motion papers, marked as such, shall be submitted to Chambers by the movant after the motion has been fully briefed. Courtesy copies should not be submitted to Chambers on a rolling basis. All courtesy”
Discovery
After conferring in person or by phone, a discovery dispute may be raised by ECF letter-motion of no more than five pages.
“C. Discovery Disputes. Parties shall follow Local Rule 37.2 with 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 or by telephone, in an effort to resolve the dispute. If this meet-and-confer process does not resolve the dispute, the party may submit an ECF letter motion to the Court, no longer than five pages, explaining the nature of the dispute and requesting an informal conference. Such letter”
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 Netburn decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In a consent benefits case, she applied deferential review, granted the plan’s summary judgment motion, and denied the claimant’s cross-motion.
“The denial of benefits was not arbitrary and capricious. Accordingly, the LTD Program’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED, and Jones’s cross-motion is DENIED.”
In a consent immigration habeas case, she granted the petition and ordered a bond hearing within ten days.
“Because I find that the plain language of the statute prohibits the extraordinary restrictions on Rodriguez’s liberty sought by the government, Rodriguez’s petition is GRANTED. The government is ordered to provide Rodriguez with a bond hearing, pursuant to Section 236(a), no later than ten days from the date of this Order.”
Procedural preferences
In a wage settlement, she declined to approve a non-disparagement clause that lacked an exception for truthful statements about the litigation.
“Because the non-disparagement clause does not have a carve-out for truthful statements about Plaintiffs’ experience litigating the case, the Court will not approve the Agreement.”
In a wage collective action, she allowed notice to current and former waiters but declined to require posting the notice at the restaurant at that stage.
“For now, Defendants are not required to post the Notice.”
In a bike-share injury case, she partly granted the operator’s summary judgment motion because a release barred ordinary negligence claims but left gross negligence claims.
“NYCBS’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED in part; because the Court finds that the Release Agreement is enforceable as to NYCBS, Corwin’s common-law negligence claims are barred, but he may still maintain gross negligence claims.”
In a wage collective action, she granted the plaintiffs’ motion to compel in part after reviewing privilege claims.
“For the reasons stated below, the plaintiffs’ motion to compel is granted in part and denied in part.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“plaintiffs’ request to limit written discovery to the opt-in plaintiffs to be deposed and the additional 15 randomly selected opt-ins is GRANTED.”
“plaintiffs’ motion for leave to amend the First Amended Complaint is GRANTED.”
“the defendant’s Motion for a Protective Order is DENIED.”
“Because I find that the plain language of the statute prohibits the extraordinary restrictions on Rodriguez’s liberty sought by the government, Rodriguez’s petition is GRANTED. The government is ordered to provide Rodriguez with a bond hearing, pursuant to Section 236(a), no later than ten days from the date of this Order.”
“The defendant’s motion for reconsideration is denied.”
“For the reasons stated below, the plaintiffs’ motion to compel is granted in part and denied in part.”
“Chipotle’s motion to be relieved from the March 27 Order is DENIED.”
“The denial of benefits was not arbitrary and capricious. Accordingly, the LTD Program’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED, and Jones’s cross-motion is DENIED.”
“The City’s motion for summary judgment is DENIED; as stated above, the Release Agreement is ineffective to waive Corwin’s claims at to the City, and the City has not demonstrated its entitlement to judgment as a matter of law on qualified immunity, notice, or other grounds.”
“NYCBS’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED in part; because the Court finds that the Release Agreement is enforceable as to NYCBS, Corwin’s common-law negligence claims are barred, but he may still maintain gross negligence claims.”
“APD’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED because APD and APDNY did not owe any duty to Corwin. Accordingly, APD and APDNY are dismissed from this case.”
“Metro Express and Sealcoat’s motions for summary judgment are DENIED because a genuine dispute of material fact exists as to whether they owed Corwin a duty of care under applicable New York law.”
“Corwin’s motion to dismiss defendants’ affirmative defenses relating to his non-use of a helmet is GRANTED in part; defendants may not argue that this is relevant to questions of liability to establish comparative negligence or assumption of the risk, but if liability is found, may argue that Corwin failed to mitigate damages.”
“Kreindler & Kreindler’s request to add members to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committees at ECF No. 7153 is denied.”
“The Court respectfully directs the Clerk of the Court to deny the motion for oral argument at ECF No. 7418.”
“Accordingly, the Court recommends dismissing these turnover motions.”
“I recommend that the Court grant Petitioner’s writ in part and order that she be transferred immediately to a women’s facility.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The reviewed 2025 assignments are led by Social Security disability appeals, often handled with the parties' consent, and also include insurance, employment, civil-rights, personal-injury, contract, and patent matters. This is a current sample rather than a tenure-wide caseload.
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 | 0 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 2 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 0 |
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 Netburn: 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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Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Netburn, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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