Meredith A. Vacca
How Judge Vacca rules, drawn from 19 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Vacca
Meredith Anne Vacca is a judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York. Appointed by President Joseph R. Biden, Judge Vacca received a commission on August 1, 2024.
Judge Vacca's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Vacca, 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
The court typically sets its own briefing schedule after filing; otherwise use Local Rule 7(b)(2).
“The Court will typically set its own briefing schedule once a motion has been filed.”
Motions
Provide chambers with courtesy copies of all dispositive motions and associated papers, including exhibits, with CM/ECF headers.
“Additionally, parties shall provide courtesy copies of all dispositive motions and associated papers – including exhibits – to Chambers with the headers generated by CM/ECF upon filing.”
Motions
After filing injunctive or expedited relief, telephone and email chambers so the court can set the briefing schedule and return date.
“Immediately after the filing of a request for injunctive or expedited relief in any case assigned to Judge Vacca, the moving party must telephone Chambers (585-613-4370) and send an email to the Chambers address ( [email protected] ) to notify the Court that the motion has been filed.”
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 Vacca decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Mahmodi and Hussaini's immigration detention case, Vacca gave the private-liberty-interest factor less weight than in Velasco Lopez because their detention had been shorter and they alleged no particular confinement conditions.
“the Court finds that due to the shorter length of their detention at the date of filing of their petition, and the absence of any allegations regarding the conditions of confinement, the first factor weighs in Petitioners’ favor to a lesser extent than in the petitioner’s in Velasco Lopez.”
In Royal Business Group, Vacca denied a dismissal motion after finding the amended pleading sufficiently alleged breach of personal guaranty.
“the Court declines to find that Plaintiff has failed to state a claim for breach of guaranty.”
Procedural preferences
In Akgul's habeas case, the government conceded that Da Cunha controlled the detention statute. Vacca held that Akgul was detained under section 1226(a) and entitled to an initial bond hearing.
“the Court here finds that, given Respondents' concession that the principles of Da Cunha control in the instant case, Petitioner is detained under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a).”
In Reynoso Ortega v. Rhoney, she dismissed the initial habeas petition with leave to amend because it named Reynoso Ortega while its factual allegations concerned Mingjian Hu, whose separate petition was already pending.
“Although the petition lists Luis Giovanny Reynoso Ortega as the Petitioner, the substance of the petition refers to Mingjian Hu.”
Cautions
In Fusco v. Monroe County, Vacca denied reconsideration of a jurisdictional dismissal because the plaintiff’s new arguments did not change the court’s Rooker-Feldman and Younger conclusions.
“Plaintiffs motion for reconsideration is therefore denied.”
In United States v. Wiggins, Vacca denied review of a pretrial detention order after finding that the defendant's violations of prior court and parole conditions undermined the proposed release conditions.
“These facts show a pattern of non-compliance with court orders and support the conclusion that no condition or combination of conditions set by the Court will reasonably assure the safety of any other person and the community and his return to court.”
In Creacy, a private agreement that did not require court approval or leave enforcement jurisdiction with the court did not make the plaintiffs prevailing parties for a statutory attorney fee award.
“the agreement did not require approval by the Court, nor did it provide the Court jurisdiction over a disagreement regarding its performance so that a violation of its term would be judicially sanctionable.”
In Victor Fox Coverage, Vacca denied the defendant’s request for attorneys’ fees because it supplied no contemporaneous time records.
“Defendant has not submitted any contemporaneous time records to support an award of attorneys' fees.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Petitioner's motion for a TRO is DENIED [ECF No. 13].”
“Petitioner's motion to expedite a hearing of his TRO motion [ECF No. 14] is GRANTED.”
“FTS's request for a TRO is granted to the extent detailed below, and the Court defers a decision as to the necessity of a hearing on FTS's request for a preliminary injunction until after the Court resolves Defendants' respective motions to dismiss.”
“the petition is granted to the extent that the Court finds Petitioner is detained pursuant to 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1226(a), and is therefore entitled to a bond hearing at the outset of detention as established by existing federal regulations.”
“Petitioner is entitled to habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2241 and the petition (ECF No. 1) is GRANTED insofar as Petitioner shall receive an individualized bond hearing before an Immigration Judge pursuant to Black v. Decker, 103 F.4th 133 (2d Cir. 2024).”
“Respondents' motion to dismiss is denied.”
“Petitioner's application for habeas relief [ECF No. 1] is GRANTED to the extent that the Court finds that he is detained under 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1226(a), and therefore that Petitioner is entitled to an initial bond hearing under the relevant regulations.”
“Petitioners' application for habeas relief [ECF No. 1] is GRANTED to the extent that the Court finds that they are detained under 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1226(a), and therefore that each of the Petitioners is entitled to his own initial bond hearing under the relevant regulations.”
“Plaintiff's motion for reconsideration, ECF No. 21, is DENIED.”
“Plaintiff's motion to appeal IFP, ECF No. 23, is DENIED.”
“Defendant Adonis Wiggins be detained pending trial pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3142(e)(1).”
“Defendants' renewed motions for sanctions are DENIED;”
“Plaintiffs' motions for attorneys' fees are DENIED.”
“Plaintiffs motion for judgment on the pleadings, 13 Case 1:24-cv-00461-MAV Document 14 Filed 10/08/26 Page 13 of 14 ECF No. 8, is GRANTED, and the Commissioner's cross-motion for judgment on the pleadings, ECF No. 12, is DENIED.”
“the City's motion to remand, ECF No. 4, is GRANTED, and the Clerk of Court is directed to remand this action to the New York State Supreme Court, County of Monroe. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c), the Clerk ofthe Court shall mail a certified copy ofthis Order ofremand to the clerk ofthe state court. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the City's request for costs and fees under 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c) are denied.”
“Defendant's motion to dismiss for forum non 19 Case 6:24-cv-06659-MAV-CDH Document 37 Filed 09/28/26 Page 19 of 20 conveniens is GRANTED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 21.5 days (N = 8).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 21 days (N = 14).
The sampled dockets and broader search results show a caseload dominated, in volume, by habeas corpus petitions from immigration detainees held at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility, alongside a mix of civil rights claims (prisoner and non-prisoner), employment discrimination (ADA and age), contract and insurance-subrogation disputes, personal-injury product liability, a trade-secrets/non-compete dispute, an International Child Abduction Remedies Act petition, bankruptcy appeals, civil forfeiture, and a modest criminal docket (drug and firearm offenses, illegal reentry, pretrial-detention review).
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 | 164 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 1 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 75 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 164 | 75 |
| Sep 2025 | 33 | 48 |
| Mar 2025 | 28 | 34 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 16 |
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 Vacca: 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 Vacca with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Vacca, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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