Sara Elizabeth Lioi

How Judge Lioi rules, drawn from 20 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Court
United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
Position
district
Appointed by
George W. Bush (Republican)
Commissioned
2007-03-14
Education
Bowling Green State University, B.A. (1983); Ohio State University College of Law, J.D. (1987)
Signed orders read
20

How Judge Lioi decides

Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

What persuades

Lioi grants a defendant's motion for summary judgment and dismisses the case where the record presents no genuine dispute of material fact for trial.

“the motion for summary judgment is granted and the case is dismissed.”

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

Beals v. C&R Incessant, Inc.
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted

“the motion for summary judgment is granted and the case is dismissed.”

Zirkle v. Menard, Inc.
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted

“defendant's motion for summary judgment is granted and this case is dismissed.”

JGR, Inc. v. Thomasville Furniture Industries, Inc.
Motion for reconsideration (defendant) Granted

“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.”

Watts v. Bon Secours Mercy Health, et al.
· 2026-03-04
Judgment on the pleadings (defendant) Granted in part

“the Hospital Defendants' motion for judgment on the”

Leiva Lemus v. Lynch, et al.
· 2026-02-23
Habeas petition (petitioner) Granted

“petition (Doc. No. 1) is GRANTED”

Motions to dismiss (respondent) Denied

“motion to dismiss (Doc. No. 6) is DENIED”

Hopson v. Chambers-Smith
· 2025-08-15
Motion for reconsideration (petitioner) Denied

“motion for reconsideration (Doc. No. 7) is denied”

In re: Passenger Vehicle Replacement Tires Antitrust Litigation
· 2026-03-31
Motion for leave to amend (plaintiff) Denied

“consolidated complaints (Doc. Nos. 323, 324, and 325) are DENIED”

Castiglia v. Arrow Express Packing and Shipping, LLC, et al.
· 2025-11-03
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“motions to dismiss are GRANTED”

United States v. Hall
· 2026-01-08
Motion to vacate sentence (defendant) Denied

“the motion to vacate is denied in its entirety”

United States v. Crumpler
· 2026-04-21
Motion for compassionate release (defendant) Denied

“Crumpler's motion for a compassionate release is denied”

Williams v. Viaquest, Inc.
· 2026-01-26

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."

United States v. Heather Renee Frenz
5:23-cr-00416-SL · 2026-08-17
Motion for compassionate release (defendant) Denied

“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.

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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