Charles J. Siragusa
How Judge Siragusa rules, drawn from 24 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Siragusa
Charles J. Siragusa is a judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York. Appointed by President William J. Clinton, Judge Siragusa received a commission on November 5, 1997. Judge Siragusa assumed senior status on December 15, 2012.
Judge Siragusa's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Siragusa, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Motions
Oral argument is not required for every motion; when used, it is generally scheduled for Thursday afternoon and usually lasts 45 minutes.
“Oral argument is not required for every motion. When it is requested, or the Court desires oral argument, or both, and for civil cases, it will be usually scheduled for Thursday afternoon.”
Motions
Provide paper courtesy copies of motion papers filed on CM/ECF to chambers.
“Judge Siragusa likes to have courtesy copies of motion papers filed on CM/ECF provided to him in paper form.”
Motions
Requests to adjourn or extend time may be sent by letter or fax under the judge’s stated procedures.
“Judge Siragusa follows the requirements of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 6, and when a scheduling order has been entered, Rule 16(b)(4). Requests can be sent by letter or by fax.”
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 9, 2026).
- Procedures for the Filing, Service, and Management of Highly Sensitive Documents (Amended General Order 167) ↗
- General Order 157: Disclosure of Members, Shareholders, Partners, and Leaders of Business Organization Parties ↗
- General Order 166: Identification Procedures in Courthouses ↗
- General Order 168: Dispositive Referrals of Social Security Appeals to United States Magistrate Judge ↗
How Judge Siragusa decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In an FDCPA case, the judge reads a disputed notice by its overall tone and purpose rather than parsing an isolated phrase in isolation: a debt-collector's form letter that mentioned 'past due payments' only in passing was not converted into a debt-collection communication just because of that phrase.
“Viewing the overall tone and content of the notice, which does not specifically reference any actual past due amount, the phrase ‘including all past due payments’ essentially means ‘all past due payments, if any.’”
In The Estate of Stanley Kauffmann v. Rochester Institute of Technology, he treated a 2004 letter as an unambiguous work-made-for-hire agreement and rejected the estate's contrary extrinsic evidence under the parol evidence rule.
“Viewing the Letter as a contract, and having found that its terms are unambiguous, the Estate’s submission of extrinsic evidence regarding the Letter is admissible only if it is permitted under the parol evidence rule.”
Procedural preferences
In Hart v. FCI Lender Services, Inc., Judge Siragusa denied counsel's oral request for a further amendment because counsel gave no good cause for missing the scheduling deadline, and dismissed the action with prejudice.
“Plaintiff's counsel did not identify any good cause for extending that deadline... the action will be dismissed with prejudice.”
In TDG Acquisition Company, LLC v. Vuzix Corporation, he awarded the defendants contractual attorneys' fees after the plaintiff litigated claims subject to arbitration, but reduced the requested amount by one-third because the defendants had achieved only partial success.
“granted, but with a reduction to reflect Vuzix’s less than total success.”
Cautions
In Jiles v. Kirkpatrick, he rejected a habeas petitioner's Brady claim as speculative because the petitioner could not say whether the undisclosed cell-site information would have helped or hurt his case.
“Jiles thus admits that he does not know whether the CSLI for Vasquez's phone would have been exculpatory, inculpatory, or neutral... The underlying Brady claim... is based on pure speculation and is meritless.”
In a delivery driver’s wage case, dismissed a tip misappropriation claim because the complaint identified no week when the alleged withholding occurred and supplied no other supporting detail.
“the pleading does not allege that Insomnia misappropriated tips during every week of her employment, it does not specify any week in which Insomnia allegedly did so.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendant's motion to dismiss the complaint in its entirety... is granted, and this action is transferred... 1) Plaintiff's second, third, fourth, and fifth causes of action are dismissed, pursuant to the Agreement's arbitration clause; ... 3) Defendant's application to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and improper venue is denied;”
“Defendant's motion to transfer venue is granted, and this action is transferred to the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.”
“Now before the Court is Plaintiff's motion for reconsideration... The application is denied.”
“Accordingly, the Court denies Defendants' motion to dismiss, and orders this case consolidated with the earlier case, Bell Independent Power Corp. v. Owens-Illinois, Inc., No. 10-CV-6057.”
“Defendants' motions [#23][#25] are granted and this action is dismissed with prejudice.”
“The Court having determined that TDG has shown that an immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or damage will result to it before Vuzix can be heard in opposition... it is hereby ORDERED that said Motion is GRANTED in part.”
“Defendants' motion to dismiss the complaint in its entirety, ECF No. 13, is granted. The Clerk of the Court is directed to close the case.”
“Vuzix's motion, ECF No. 29, seeking an award of attorney's fees is granted, but with a reduction to reflect Vuzix's less than total success. The requested fees of $20,710.50, are reduced by one-third, or $6,903.50.”
“Defendants' motion to dismiss [#7] is denied.”
“Defendants' motion to dismiss [#46] is granted, and this action is dismissed with prejudice.”
“Defendants' application for partial dismissal, ECF No. 4, is granted. All except the following Counts of the complaint are dismissed: (I) alleging that Delvecchio, Amato, and the City used excessive force in violation of Griffin's Fourth Amendment rights; (VI) alleging a claim of battery against Delvecchio and Amato; and (VII) alleging Delvecchio and Amato intentionally assaulted Griffin.”
“Xerox's motion for summary judgment and to dismiss counterclaims [#15] is granted. JoJoMonster's counterclaims are dismissed with prejudice. Xerox is granted summary judgment on Claims I-III in the amount of $135,896.44.”
“Plaintiff has not shown that the proffered reason for his termination was false and the real reason for the adverse employment action was motivated by racial discrimination... Accordingly, the Court grants Defendants' motion [for summary judgment].”
“the Court... denies Plaintiff's [cross-motion to strike].”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median motion-to-ruling time: 201.5 days (N = 18).
The sampled dockets span a broad general civil and criminal caseload: consumer and commercial contract disputes, trademark and copyright claims, ERISA benefit-fund collections, employment discrimination, Social Security appeals, prisoner civil-rights suits, and habeas corpus petitions, plus a steady recent stream of pro se filings.
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 | 34 |
| 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 | 24 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 34 | 24 |
| Sep 2025 | 21 | 24 |
| Mar 2025 | 26 | 21 |
| Sep 2024 | 33 | 21 |
| Mar 2024 | 28 | 28 |
| Sep 2023 | 25 | 30 |
| Mar 2023 | 29 | 39 |
| Sep 2022 | 36 | 36 |
| Mar 2022 | 40 | 44 |
| Sep 2021 | 44 | 34 |
| Mar 2021 | 51 | 30 |
| Sep 2020 | 50 | 26 |
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 U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, not for Judge Siragusa: 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 | 1,499 | 9.1 months |
| Closed with no court action | 91 | 8.7 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 1,344 | 8.6 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 56 | 28.5 months |
| Closed during trial | 8 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 1,499 | 9.1 months |
| Sep 2024 | 1,783 | 7.9 months |
| Sep 2023 | 1,768 | 15.5 months |
| Sep 2022 | 1,892 | 15.7 months |
| Sep 2021 | 2,130 | 14.1 months |
| Sep 2020 | 2,177 | 14.7 months |
| Sep 2019 | 1,971 | 14.8 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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