Frank Paul Geraci Jr.
How Judge Geraci rules, drawn from 16 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Geraci
Frank Paul Geraci, Jr. is a judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Judge Geraci received a commission on January 2, 2013. Judge Geraci assumed senior status on April 1, 2023.
Judge Geraci's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Geraci, 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
Motions are submitted without oral argument unless the court tells the parties otherwise.
“All motions will be submitted without oral argument unless the Court notifies the parties otherwise.”
Motions
Provide chambers with courtesy copies of all dispositive motions.
“The Court requests that courtesy copies of all dispositive motions be provided to chambers.”
Motions
A consented adjournment or extension may be requested by letter; without consent, file a motion.
“Counsel may file letter requests for an adjournment or extension of time with consent by opposing counsel. In the absence of consent by opposing counsel, a motion for adjournment or extension of time must be filed with the Court.”
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 Geraci decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In a prisoner exhaustion case, he found that the plaintiff’s use and appeals of other grievances showed that the grievance process was available and not too opaque to use.
“the record evidence demonstrates that Plaintiff filed multiple grievances and appealed several of them... Thus, it cannot be said that the process was ‘so opaque’ or that ‘prison administrators thwart[ed] inmates from taking advantage of a grievance process.’”
In Biondolillo, he granted reconsideration in part after examining the complaint and course of proceedings, finding that the pregnancy-discrimination claim against Kennedy was brought in her individual capacity.
“a party who is unclear in argument as to the capacity in which the defendant can be pursued should not lightly be deemed to have withdrawn a claim that was expressly stated.”
In one labor-arbitration dispute, Geraci read the collective bargaining agreement as a whole and considered the parties’ prior handling of retiree grievances when deciding whether the union could compel arbitration.
“the parties’ past conduct of arbitrating retiree benefit grievances supports the interpretation that Article XI allows Respondent to grieve the same issue now.”
Procedural preferences
In a reconsideration dispute, he applied the rule that a party may not use reconsideration to introduce theories or facts that were not previously presented.
“Motions for reconsideration will generally be denied unless there is ‘an intervening change of controlling law, the availability of new evidence, or the need to correct clear error or prevent manifest injustice.’... ‘A party may not use a motion for reconsideration to advance theories of relief or facts that were not previously presented to the court.’”
In a prisoner civil-rights case, he held that the plaintiff’s failure to submit a grievance within the program’s 21-day deadline made exhaustion incurable at that point.
“Plaintiff was required to ‘submit a complaint to the [Inmate Grievance Program] clerk within 21 calendar days of an alleged occurrence’... Having failed to do so, Plaintiff's failure to exhaust at this point is incurable.”
In a prison disability case, Geraci allowed a pro se plaintiff to amend claims he considered potentially curable even though the plaintiff had not requested leave. Claims against defendants who could not be sued under the statutes were dismissed with prejudice.
“Even though Plaintiff did not request leave to re-plead his claim, the Court believes that Plaintiff, who is proceeding pro se, should be afforded leave to amend his complaint.”
Cautions
In a state-law discrimination case, he dismissed NYSHRL claims as barred by the Eleventh Amendment because New York had not waived immunity for those claims in federal court.
“New York has not waived its Eleventh Amendment immunity for NY[S]HRL suits in federal courts... Plaintiff's NYSHRL claims are barred by the Eleventh Amendment and must be dismissed as a matter of law.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendants' motion for summary judgment is GRANTED and Plaintiff's claim is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“Plaintiff's dispositive motion and motion for miscellaneous relief are DENIED AS MOOT.”
“Defendants' motion for summary judgment is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Plaintiff's Title VII pregnancy discrimination claim may proceed. Plaintiff's remaining claims are dismissed.”
“Plaintiff's Motion is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. Plaintiff's NYSHRL pregnancy discrimination claim is reinstated. Plaintiff's common law claims remain dismissed.”
“Based on the foregoing, the Court accepts and adopts the Report and Recommendation filed by United States Magistrate Judge Jonathan W. Feldman (Dkt. #45) in its entirety, and Defendant’s motion to suppress evidence, namely the firearm and marijuana recovered on October 6, 2012, (Dkt. #22) is GRANTED.”
“I therefore accept Magistrate Judge Feldman’s recommendation regarding the video tape evidence, and the motion to suppress the video tape is DENIED.”
“As a result, and for all of the foregoing reasons, the Defendant’s Motions to Dismiss (Dkt. ## 7, 8) are GRANTED, and this action is dismissed with prejudice.”
“Feldman’s motion (ECF No. 28) to vacate the writ of garnishment as premised on an alleged breach of the plea agreement is DENIED, and Feldman’s motion (ECF No. 42) for discovery is DENIED.”
“The Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment (Dkt. #46) as to all Causes of Action is denied, and the Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (Dkt. # 47) as to each Cause of Action is granted.”
“For all of the foregoing reasons, Defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing the Amended Complaint in its entirety is granted.”
“Defendants’ motion for summary judgment (ECF No. 95) is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART.”
“Defendants’ motion to dismiss, ECF No. 66, is GRANTED, and Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint, ECF No. 59, is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE. Additionally, Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment, ECF No. 77, is DENIED AS MOOT.”
“Petitioner’s petition and renewed motions for a permanent stay of arbitration and for declaratory judgment are DENIED. Respondent’s motions to dismiss and to compel arbitration are GRANTED.”
“the motion to dismiss by Defendants Piazza, Glebocki, Crowley, Galloway, and Martuscello is GRANTED.”
“Defendant Securus Technologies’ motion to dismiss is also GRANTED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- The sampled cohorts are dominated by Social Security disability appeals, with a recurring secondary mix of immigration-detention habeas corpus petitions, prisoner civil-rights and habeas cases, employment-discrimination and disability-discrimination suits, civil-forfeiture actions, and occasional commercial, copyright, and consumer-protection matters.
- He also continues to receive new criminal case assignments as a senior judge.
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 | 47 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 47 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 41 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 39 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 26 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 16 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 20 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 28 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 31 |
| Mar 2022 | 2 | 32 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 32 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 29 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 31 |
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 Geraci: 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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