John T. Curtin
Judge Curtin no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Curtin decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Curtin treated language capable of misleading the least sophisticated consumer as sufficient at the pleading stage, even where the same words could bear a more benign reading.
“Viewing the communication from the perspective of the least sophisticated consumer, the court finds that such a statement could be interpreted to imply that the consumer was not within his rights under state or federal law to record the telephone conversation.”
Curtin enforced an employment-arbitration policy where the employee had notice that compliance was a condition of employment and continued working.
“[W]hen an arbitration policy is a condition of employment, ... an employee ‘will be deemed to have accepted’ an arbitration agreement when she continues to work after the promulgation of the arbitration policy.’”
Curtin accepted an agency assessment supported by the regulated entity’s own reports and rejected a late challenge that should have been presented administratively.
“The record indicates that NWS was assessed based on its own self-reported removals, including those removals which it now claims were made by Livingston.”
Procedural preferences
Curtin remanded Social Security matters when the administrative decision failed to explain the weight given to treating-source evidence.
“Failure to provide ‘good reasons’ for not crediting the opinion of a claimant’s treating physician is a ground for remand.”
Curtin denied summary judgment and qualified immunity when material facts remained disputed and a jury could credit the nonmovant’s account.
“crediting plaintiffs version of events and granting her the benefit of all reasonable inferences, that a rational jury could find that defendant Anderson retaliated against plaintiff based upon her First Amendment activity.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The defendant’s motions to dismiss and for sanctions are denied.”
“The plaintiffs motion to amend the complaint is granted.”
“For the foregoing reasons, that portion of defendant’s submission entered on December 5, 2013 (Item 13) designated as a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction is denied.”
“Based on the foregoing, the defendants’ motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction is denied.”
“The petition is therefore denied, and the case is dismissed.”
“The defendant’s motion to dismiss the amended complaint and to compel arbitration is granted, and the complaint is dismissed.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the petition is denied, and the case is dismissed. This dismissal is without prejudice to file another petition should it subsequently appear that removal is no longer reasonably foreseeable.”
“As the putative claimant failed to file a verified claim and answer within the time period specified in CAFRA and Rule C(6) of the Supplemental Rules, the government’s motion for a default judgment and order of forfeiture is granted.”
“The Commissioner’s motion for judgment on the pleadings (Item 7) is denied and the plaintiffs cross motion (Item 9) is granted.”
“For the foregoing reasons, plaintiffs motion for judgment on the pleadings (Item 10) is granted, and the matter is remanded to the Commissioner, pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), for further proceedings consistent with this decision and order.”
“The Commissioner’s motion for judgment on the pleadings (Item 9) is denied.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the petition is denied, and the case is dismissed. This dismissal is without prejudice to file another petition should it subsequently appear that the presumptively reasonable period of post-removal-order detention has elapsed, and that removal is no longer reasonably foreseeable.”
“Defendant’s motion for summary judgment is granted, and the complaint is dismissed.”
“For the foregoing reasons, defendant’s motion for partial summary judgment (Item 10) is denied.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median motion-to-ruling time: 5 days (N = 5).
The historical sample included civil-rights, antitrust, patent, environmental, benefits, consumer-credit, and immigration-detention matters. Empty early docket streams and the narrow late-tenure cohort do not support broad duration or base-rate conclusions.
A historical record
Judge Curtin no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.