Nancy A. Vecchiarelli
Judge Vecchiarelli no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Vecchiarelli decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Vecchiarelli credited a privilege claim when testimony, a declaration, a detailed log, and in-camera review tied the documents to a qualifying peer-review process.
“the Court is satisfied that Plaintiffs have established the existence of a peer review committee”
Vecchiarelli found subject-matter waiver where a party voluntarily disclosed substantial investigative findings but withheld the underlying material needed to assess the full picture.
“There is no reason Defendants, who voluntarily disclosed substantial information about an investigation that led to a public announcement that OMG anticipated a restatement of earnings, should now be able to withhold information that would allow Plaintiff to review the whole picture.”
Procedural preferences
In benefits review, Vecchiarelli remanded when the administrative decision did not separately analyze whether the claimant's limitations would remain if substance abuse stopped.
“This case must be remanded to the ALJ to perform a complete analysis of whether Blaylock would be disabled with respect to his pain from pancreatitis if the substance abuse stopped.”
Vecchiarelli declined equitable tolling where a habeas petitioner did not support an actual-innocence gateway.
“Steward does not attempt to make a showing of actual innocence, nor is there any evidence in the record demonstrating such innocence. Therefore, the statute of limitations should not be tolled.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the court REVERSES the opinion of the Commissioner and REMANDS the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
“the magistrate judge recommends that defendants’ motion be (1) GRANTED as to count one, alleging a wrongful search and seizure (property) in violation of the Fourth *459Amendment, with respect to all individual defendants except a John Doe police officer and Gulas, and DENIED as to a John Doe police officer and Gulas”
“For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiffs’ motion for a protective order is GRANTED.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Seneca’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment should be GRANTED.”
“For the reasons stated above, the Magistrate Judge recommends that Carley’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus should be DENIED.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the Sureties’ motion for a protective order (Doc. No. 2126) is DENIED.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Steward’s petition is time-barred and the Magistrate Judge recommends Steward’s Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (Doc. No. 1) be DENIED.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiffs Motion to Compel (Doc. No. 254) is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The fixed-seed sample contained fifteen terminated matters filed during the first half of 2008. Nine were Social Security appeals; the remainder included two benefits-plan cases, two labor cases, a contract dispute, and a consumer-credit matter. Durations ranged from 90 to 451 days, with a median of 255 days.
A historical record
Judge Vecchiarelli 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.