James E. d'Auguste
How Judge d'Auguste rules, drawn from 20 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge d'Auguste
James E. d'Auguste is a New York Supreme Court justice in New York County, elected in 2016 and assigned to the Commercial Division in 2026. He previously served on the New York City Civil Court and as an acting Family Court judge in the Bronx. He earned his undergraduate degree from Binghamton University and his law degree from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
Judge d'Auguste's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge d'Auguste's own (checked October 11, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
How Judge d'Auguste decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. v. New York Times Co., Judge d'Auguste considered the article's placement in the newspaper's opinion section when dismissing a defamation claim.
“the overall context in which the article was published, in the opinion section of the newspaper, signaled to the reader that 'the broader social context and surrounding circumstances [indicate] that what is being read . . . is likely to be opinion, not fact.'”
In Isaly v. Garde, Judge d'Auguste applied New York's Anti-SLAPP law to the continued litigation of a rejected claim and described that continuation as an example of the strategic litigation the statute sought to curb.
“the continuation of this action after the Legislature's enactment of chapter 250 has been a veritable archetype of the strategic litigation against public participation that the Legislature intended to curb”
In Lee v. Chun Ka Luk, the Appellate Division affirmed his ruling that the plaintiff had standing to bring corporate claims, noting the defendant had offered no evidence contradicting the 1996 corporate resolutions.
“Plaintiff established his standing to bring claims under Business Corporation Law § 720 as an officer and director of the family companies ... Defendant failed to present any evidence to contradict the 1996 corporate resolutions”
In Chen v. Shah, d'Auguste dismissed a claim seeking WARN Act damages from passive shareholders personally, holding that the statute's definition of an employer did not reach them.
“Under settled principles of corporate law, shareholders are not employers, and to designate them as such for the purpose of imposing statutory liability would go against the principles underlying the legal distinction between a corporation and its shareholders.”
Procedural preferences
In Steinbok v. City of New York, he described the defense firm's renewed effort to exclude a nonattorney representative from a medical examination, despite the Appellate Division's ruling in Guerra, as bordering on frivolity.
“Baker McEvoy's attempt to essentially collaterally attack the Appellate Division's reasoning underlying its decision in Guerra by attempting to continuously ban non-attorneys from being present at a plaintiff's IME, which it has been barred from doing, borders on frivolity.”
In Clear Street LLC v. Hidden Road Partners LP, Judge d'Auguste stayed the state case because a more advanced federal action involved substantially overlapping parties and alleged wrongs.
“A stay is warranted where there is 'a substantial identity of parties,' and 'both actions arose out of the same subject matter or series of alleged wrongs.'”
In Isaly v. Garde, he denied the plaintiff's request for discovery on an anti-SLAPP motion after noting that the plaintiff had not submitted his own affidavit describing his knowledge of the communications at issue.
“The person in the best position to state what information plaintiff has concerning communications between plaintiff and defendant Burke is plaintiff himself, yet plaintiff has not offered an affidavit detailing his own personal knowledge”
In Metropolitan Partners Group Administration, LLC v. Nerney, he denied a personal-jurisdiction dismissal without prejudice while the defendants' evidence remained untested in depositions or other adversarial settings.
“The evidence that the RSG Defendants have submitted has not been tested in depositions or other adversarial settings.”
Cautions
In Vogel v. Lorne, Judge d'Auguste extended the plaintiffs' time to serve process by 120 days and denied the defendant's dismissal motion; the Appellate Division reported both rulings.
“granted the motion of plaintiffs Heike M. Vogel, Esq. and Victoria V. Bach, Esq. ... to extend the time to serve the summons and complaint by 120 days ... denied defendant's motion to dismiss the complaint”
In Ziankovich v. Bennett, Judge d’Auguste consolidated three defendants’ dismissal motions for disposition and granted dismissal and sanctions in the New York action arising from Colorado attorney disciplinary proceedings.
“defendants' motions seeking dismissal of the complaint and the imposition of sanctions are granted”
In Cordaro v. AdvantageCare Physicians, P.C., the Appellate Division vacated Judge d'Auguste's dismissal of the entire amended complaint with prejudice and denied the dismissal motion as to every claim except unjust enrichment.
“unanimously modified, on the law, the judgment vacated, and the motion denied as to all causes of action except unjust enrichment”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Based upon the foregoing, defendants' motion is denied in its entirety.”
“The Court grants plaintiff's cross-motion to the extent that defendants have waived their opportunity for a DME based on their refusal to allow a non-attorney representative into the examination room and comply with this Court's prior orders ... plaintiff's cross-motion striking defendants' answer for failure to submit to an examination before trial is granted to the extent of conditionally striking their answer unless defendants produce witnesses for deposition within the next 90 days”
“plaintiff's cross-motion for costs and sanctions is denied”
“Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (James E. d'Auguste, J.), entered September 22, 2020, dismissing the amended complaint with prejudice pursuant to an order, same court and Justice, entered on or about September 17, 2020, which granted defendant's motion to dismiss pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) (1) and (7) ... unanimously modified, on the law, the judgment vacated, and the motion denied as to all causes of action except unjust enrichment, and otherwise affirmed”
“the Operator Defendants' motion to strike is denied”
“defendants' motions seeking dismissal of the complaint and the imposition of sanctions are granted”
“this Court grants dismissal of the complaint with prejudice and denies the application for the imposition of sanctions”
“Order, Supreme Court, New York County (James D'Auguste, J.), entered on or about October 14, 2021, which granted defendant's CPLR 3211 (a) (7) motion to dismiss the amended complaint ... unanimously affirmed”
“plaintiff's motion for discovery is denied”
“the branches of defendant Damian Garde's motion to dismiss this action pursuant to CPLR 3211 (g) as part of motion seq No. 003 and 004 are granted”
“the branches of ... defendant['s] ... motion to dismiss this action pursuant to CPLR 3211 (g) as part of motion seq No. 003 and 004 are granted”
“Order, Supreme Court, New York County (James E. d'Auguste, J.), entered June 5, 2024, which ... granted the motion of plaintiffs Heike M. Vogel, Esq. and Victoria V. Bach, Esq. ... to extend the time to serve the summons and complaint by 120 days ... unanimously affirmed”
“Order, Supreme Court, New York County (James E. d'Auguste, J.), entered June 5, 2024, which ... denied defendant's motion to dismiss the complaint, unanimously affirmed”
“Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (James d'Auguste, J.), entered January 13, 2025, awarding plaintiff a money judgment against defendant, and bringing up for review an order, same court and Justice, entered September 10, 2024, which granted plaintiff's motion for summary judgment in lieu of complaint on a note and guaranty ... unanimously affirmed”
“denied defendant's cross-motion to dismiss pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) (4) and (5)”
“Order, Supreme Court, New York County (James E. d'Auguste, J.), entered July 15, 2025, which ... granted the motion of plaintiff Dennis Lee for summary judgment as to liability on the first through fifth causes of action in the amended complaint, for summary judgment as to the sixth cause of action for injunctive relief to set aside unlawful conveyances ... unanimously affirmed”
“denied the cross-motion of defendant Chun Ka Luk, as Administrator of the Estate of Nancy Luk for summary judgment dismissing the amended complaint for a lack of standing and as barred by the statute of limitations, unanimously affirmed”
“ORDERED that this case is stayed during the pendency of Case number: 1:25-cv-08420 (AT) in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the ‘SDNY Action’) and in favor of the pending arbitration before FINRA”
“Order, Supreme Court, New York County (James Edward D'Auguste, J.), entered April 30, 2020, which granted plaintiff's motion for summary judgment as to liability ... unanimously modified, on the law, to grant defendants' motion as to the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth causes of action, and otherwise affirmed”
“denied defendants' cross motion to dismiss the third through tenth causes of action pursuant to CPLR 3211 or 3212 ... unanimously modified, on the law, to grant defendants' motion as to the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth causes of action”
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