Benita Yalonda Pearson
How Judge Pearson rules, drawn from 49 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Pearson
Benita Yalonda Pearson is a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Judge Pearson received a commission on December 27, 2010.
Judge Pearson's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Pearson, 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.
- Case Management Conference Scheduling Order ↗
- Case Management Plan ↗
- Civil Trial Order ↗
- Criminal Trial Order ↗
Key rules
Conferences
Parties must participate personally in the case management conference, including when it is held by phone.
“The Court requires personal participation of parties at the Case Management Conference, even when the conference is telephonic.”
Conferences
Lead counsel must attend the case management conference prepared and authorized to discuss settlement.
“Lead counsel who is primarily responsible for each party’s case shall personally attend the CMC and shall be prepared and authorized to discuss all relevant issues, including settlement.”
Conferences
The Rule 26(f) conference must be completed at least 21 days before the case management conference.
“The Rule 26(f) conference shall be completed by no later than twenty-one (21) days before the CMC.”
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).
How Judge Pearson decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
In the reviewed Social Security appeal, the claimant’s objection repeated an argument from earlier briefing. The court found that repetition insufficient to require a new review of the recommendation and also rejected the objection on its merits.
“Because Plaintiff’s objection is indistinguishable from arguments he has raised previously, it is insufficient to trigger de novo review.”
In one compassionate release request, Pearson required evidence that the new grounds had first been presented to the prison warden before reaching the merits.
“the Motion for Compassionate Release is denied without prejudice for failure to exhaust procedural remedies.”
In a removed prisoner civil rights case, Pearson denied a remand request placed in an opposition brief because it did not comply with the local motion rule or Rule 7(b).
“Burying a remand request in an opposition brief to a dispositive motion does not comply with Local Rule 7.1 or Rule 7(b).”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendants' Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 12), which has been converted to a Motion for Summary Judgment, is denied in part and granted in part. The Court denies Defendants' Motion as to Plaintiff's FTCA claim because it is not time-barred. The Court hereby dismisses all defendants except for the United States of America.”
“Viewing all facts and reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 36) is denied.”
“Plaintiff's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (ECF No. 44) is granted in part and denied in part.”
“Consequently, Defendant's Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 34) and Plaintiff's Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 41) are denied without prejudice as moot.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Defendant OFO's Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 9) is granted and Plaintiffs' informal request to amend the Complaint (ECF No. 12) is denied.”
“For the following reasons, Plaintiff's Motion to Remand is granted.”
“Accordingly, the Court grants Plaintiffs' Motion to Remand (ECF No. 15) and remands the matter to Holmes County Court of Common Pleas.”
“Accordingly, Defendants GSF Mortgage Corporation (‘GSF’) and Chad Jampedro's Motion to Compel Arbitration (ECF No. 15) is denied.”
“Accordingly, Defendants' Motions to Dismiss pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) (ECF Nos. 18, 23, and 25) are granted.”
“The Canton Judges' Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(c) (ECF No. 28) is also granted.”
“Plaintiff's Motion for Default Judgment (ECF No. 29) is denied.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Defendants' partial Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 56) is granted.”
“The Court grants summary judgment in favor of Defendant on Plaintiff's Counts I and III, dismissing these federal claims because the Court finds that Defendant does not qualify as an employer under Title VII. The Court denies summary judgment on Plaintiff's Counts II and IV, the state-law claims because there are genuine disputes of material facts regarding these claims.”
“For the reasons stated above, summary judgment is granted in favor of Defendant.”
“Accordingly, Defendants' Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings (ECF No. 9) is granted. The case is hereby dismissed.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 244 days (N = 3).
- The sampled docket includes Social Security appeals, state and immigration-detention habeas matters, federal criminal cases, civil-rights claims, and subpoena proceedings.
- Judge Pearson sits in the Eastern Division at Youngstown and receives matters from across the district; magistrate judges appear in sampled Social Security referrals.
- The criminal, Social Security, and habeas-heavy sample does not represent her full civil caseload.
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 | 0 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2020 | 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 United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, not for Judge Pearson: 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 | 2,048 | 7.1 months |
| Closed with no court action | 394 | 3.3 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 1,035 | 5.9 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 607 | 11.4 months |
| Closed during trial | 12 | 18 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 2,048 | 7.1 months |
| Sep 2024 | 2,008 | 7.4 months |
| Sep 2023 | 2,137 | 8.5 months |
| Sep 2022 | 2,330 | 9.8 months |
| Sep 2021 | 2,432 | 9.3 months |
| Sep 2020 | 2,788 | 10.3 months |
| Sep 2019 | 3,158 | 9.9 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 Pearson with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Pearson, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
Opens in Ezel Pro.
- Grounded in Judge Pearson's own signed orders
- Cites every source it relies on, so you can verify it
- Chat, drafting and research in one workspace