Sara Elizabeth Lioi
How Judge Lioi rules, drawn from 25 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Lioi
Sara Elizabeth Lioi is a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Judge Lioi received a commission on March 14, 2007.
Judge Lioi's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Lioi's own (checked October 9, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
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 Lioi decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In one rear-end collision case, the court granted summary judgment after finding that the lead truck was visible ahead of the plaintiff and did not suddenly enter his path, making the plaintiff negligent per se under Ohio’s assured-clear-distance rule.
“Thus, Beals was negligent per se.”
In a sealing dispute, Lioi distinguished medical information relevant to the plaintiff’s claims from unrelated private information, allowing provisional redactions subject to court review.
“Watts has a compelling privacy interest in medical information irrelevant to this case.”
In a discovery sanctions dispute, Lioi weighed the timing of a late disclosure and the plaintiff’s ability to respond before allowing the evidence and awarding limited fees and costs.
“The Court finds the degree and timing of the surprise, and the ability of Watts to cure the surprise, especially significant.”
Procedural preferences
In Sims, Lioi set aside an unopposed clerk’s entry of default after finding the defendant acted promptly, had a potentially meritorious defense, and showed good cause, even though she rejected its improper-service excuse.
“Albert Harris has established good cause to vacate the entry of default.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the motion for summary judgment is granted and the case is dismissed.”
“defendant's motion for summary judgment is granted and this case is dismissed.”
“Defendant's motion for reconsideration (Doc. No. 262, Part 1) is GRANTED and its motion for certification of an interlocutory appeal (Doc. No. 262, Part 2) is DENIED.”
“For these reasons, the Hospital Defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings (Doc. No. 40) is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.”
“petition (Doc. No. 1) is GRANTED”
“motion to dismiss (Doc. No. 6) is DENIED”
“motion for reconsideration (Doc. No. 7) is denied”
“consolidated complaints (Doc. Nos. 323, 324, and 325) are DENIED”
“the motion to vacate is denied in its entirety”
“Crumpler's motion for a compassionate release is denied”
Sua sponte order on no party motion: the court denied the pro se plaintiff's applications to proceed in forma pauperis and dismissed the action without prejudice, allowing reopening only upon payment of the full filing fee. Grounding quote: "plaintiff's Applications to Proceed In Forma Pauperis (Doc. Nos. 2, 9) are DENIED and this action is DISMISSED without prejudice."
“For the foregoing reasons, the Court denies Frenz’s motion, as supplemented, for a compassionate release.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 376 days (N = 4).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 122 days (N = 5).
A 2021-2022 sample of Chief Judge Lioi's docket includes federal criminal cases, Social Security appeals, contract disputes, employment discrimination, claims against the United States, and enforcement matters. A separate 2018 sample adds employment, education-contract, insurance-coverage, and personal-injury cases, several of which ended through mediation or settlement.
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 | 0 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| 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 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 0 |
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 Lioi: 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 Lioi with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Lioi, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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