Jonathan W. Feldman
How Judge Feldman rules, drawn from 9 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Feldman
Jonathan W. Feldman served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Western District of New York from 1995 to 2019 and returned as a recalled magistrate judge in 2021. He previously served as the district’s Federal Public Defender.
Judge Feldman's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Feldman, 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, and Judge Feldman requires courtesy copies of motion papers filed on CM/ECF.
“Oral argument is not required for every motion. When it is requested, or the Court desires oral argument, or both, the Court will set return dates and schedule oral argument.”
Motions
A consensual extension should be requested by letter rather than formal motion.
“When parties agree on a request for an extension, they should send a letter request to Judge Feldman instead of filing a formal motion.”
Motions
Judge Feldman prefers Bluebook citations and asks for copies of unpublished cases when a pro se litigant is on the other side.
“Judge Feldman prefers citations per the Blue Book style. If a pro se litigant is on the other side, please include copies of unpublished cases cited in your memorandum of law.”
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 ↗
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“defendants' Daubert motion to exclude that portion of Dr. Grassian's testimony about ‘a so called syndrome’ concerning the ‘Psychopathological Effects of Solitary Confinement’ (Docket # 84) is denied.”
“For the reasons that follow, defendants’ motion for judgment as a matter of law is denied.”
“the Court finds that the remedy of remittitur is proper and fair in this case. For these reasons, the Court will deny defendants’ motions for a new trial conditioned upon plaintiffs consent to a remittitur and damages in the amount of $237,500.”
“I find that Sadrach does qualify for IDEA benefits and, therefore, direct the defendant to develop and implement an individualized educational plan (IEP) for Sadrach pursuant to the IDEA.”
“The defendant determined that Sadrach did not qualify for benefits under IDEA and, on administrative review, an Impartial Hearing Officer (IHO) and a State Review Officer (SRO) agreed. For the reasons that follow, I find that Sadrach does qualify for IDEA benefits”
“plaintiffs’ motions to amend their complaint, to compel discovery of employees who meet the class descriptions and for expedited notice to affected employees are granted.”
“The defendant’s motion to dismiss portions of plaintiffs’ complaint is denied.”
“For the reasons stated below, the defendants’ motion for summary judgment (Docket # 55) is granted.”
“Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(c), the parties have consented to the disposition of this matter by the undersigned. For the reasons set forth below, Mastin’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus is denied.”
“Magistrate Judge Feldman issued a thorough, 29-page Report and Recommendation recommending that the motion to suppress be denied”
“the motion for a Franks hearing be denied”
“the motion to dismiss the Indictment be denied”
“United States Magistrate Judge Jonathan W. Feldman issued a thorough Report and Recommendation on September 21, 2018, recommending that Defendant's suppression motion be denied.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 494 days (N = 12).
A docket enumeration across 1990-2019 filing cohorts shows Feldman's consent docket dominated by Social Security disability appeals (Titles II and XVI) from the mid-2010s onward, alongside a long-running mix of prisoner civil-rights suits and habeas corpus petitions (his docket since the 1990s), employment-discrimination and wage-and-hour (FLSA) actions, patent and copyright infringement suits, ERISA benefit claims, product-liability and insurance matters, and criminal-duty warrants and initial appearances.
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 | 1 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 1 |
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 Feldman: 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).
Draft for Judge Feldman with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Feldman, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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