Michael R. Merz
How Judge Merz rules, drawn from 29 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Merz
Michael R. Merz serves as a recalled United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of Ohio in Dayton. He joined the federal bench in 1984 and retired from active service in March 2011. He earned degrees from Harvard College and Harvard Law School.
Judge Merz's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Merz, 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.
- Standing Order - In re Procedure in Cases Before ↗
- Standing Order No. 2 - In re Death Penalty Litigation ↗
Key rules
Filing
Cite the record by document title, ECF number, and PageID reference.
“All references to the record in this Court must be to the filed document by title”
Filing
In a referred death penalty case, electronically file in this court a copy of any paper filed in an appellate court at the same time.
“the attorney shall contemporaneously electronically file a copy of that paper in this Court.”
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).
- General Order 24-02 In Re: Procedures for Requesting, Filing, and Management of Highly Sensitive Documents ↗
- U.S. District Court General Order No. 24-05 ↗
- General Order 23-03 In Re: Automatic Sealing and Procedures for Unsealing of Applications for Search Warrants, Pen Registers, Trap and Trace Devices, or Court Orders Under 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d). ↗
How Judge Merz decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Carter’s habeas case, Merz found that Carter supplied no new evidence to invoke the actual-innocence gateway for an untimely petition.
“Schlup, Souter, and McQuiggin plainly require new evidence and Carter has presented none.”
In a habeas case, Merz declined to consider material outside the state-court record under Cullen v. Pinholster.
“Because they are not part of the State Court Record, this Court cannot consider them. Cullen v. Pinholster, 563 U.S. 170 (2011).”
Procedural preferences
In a habeas report and recommendation, Merz recommended denying a certificate of appealability and certifying that any appeal would be objectively frivolous.
“it is also recommended that Petitioner be denied a certificate of appealability and that the Court certify to the Sixth Circuit that any appeal would be objectively frivolous”
In a habeas case, Merz denied a motion to stay for lack of jurisdiction, without prejudice to renewal if jurisdiction returned to the district court.
“Therefore Petitioner’s Motion to Stay is DENIED for lack of jurisdiction, without prejudice to its renewal if jurisdiction is returned to this Court.”
In a September 2026 federal-prisoner case, Merz distinguished challenges to custody from complaints about conditions of confinement. He maintained a recommendation to dismiss the pleaded placement claim after the requested return had occurred and treated later conditions allegations as outside that habeas petition.
“habeas corpus cannot be used to obtain court intervention to supervise conditions of confinement”
Cautions
In a habeas case already ripe for decision, Merz denied the petitioner’s motion to present evidence as untimely.
“Petitioner's companion Motion to Present Evidence (ECF No. 20) is DENIED because it is untimely -- the case is ripe for decision by Judge Hopkins.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Respondent's statute of limitations defense is well taken and the Petition should be dismissed with prejudice as untimely. ... the Magistrate Judge respectfully recommends the Petition be dismissed with prejudice.”
“Based on the foregoing analysis, the Magistrate Judge respectfully recommends the Petition be dismissed with prejudice. Because reasonable jurists would not disagree with this conclusion, it is also recommended that Petitioner be denied a certificate of appealability”
District Judge Susan J. Dlott adopted Merz’s recommendation to dismiss the habeas petition with prejudice and overruled the petitioner’s objections. She also affirmed his earlier decisions on requests to expand the record and amend.
“This habeas corpus case is before the Court on Petitioner's Motion to Request Case Status Update (ECF No. 21). That Motion is GRANTED.”
“Petitioner's companion Motion to Present Evidence (ECF No. 20) is DENIED because it is untimely -- the case is ripe for decision by Judge Hopkins. The additional evidence tendered does not show the case was timely filed.”
“Based on the foregoing analysis, the Magistrate Judge respectfully recommends Petitioner’s Motion for Summary Judgment be denied.”
“Accordingly, Petitioner’s motions for reconsideration and to have Chief Judge Marbley decide his discovery motion are DENIED. The denial of discovery of Attorney Benton’s file is without prejudice to its renewal at the appropriate time.”
District Judge Thomas M. Rose adopted Merz’s recommendation to deny two summary judgment motions without prejudice to renewal after the response and state court record were due.
“Based on the foregoing analysis, the Magistrate Judge respectfully recommends that the Petition be dismissed as time-barred. Because reasonable jurists would not disagree with this conclusion, it is also recommended that Petitioner be denied a certificate of appealability”
District Judge Algenon L. Marbley adopted Merz’s two recommendations concerning the habeas petition but dismissed it with prejudice; Merz had recommended dismissal without prejudice.
“Based on the foregoing analysis, the Magistrate Judge respectfully recommends the Petition herein be dismissed with prejudice.”
“Merits review of Dixon’s Petition is barred by the statute of limitations and his procedural defaults in presenting his claims to the Ohio courts. The Petition should therefore be dismissed with prejudice.”
“Based on the foregoing analysis, the Magistrate Judge respectfully recommends that the Motion to Vacate be dismissed with prejudice. Because reasonable jurists would not disagree with this conclusion, it is also recommended that Defendant be denied a certificate of appealability”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Judge Merz's sampled work is overwhelmingly composed of state-prisoner habeas petitions and federal motions to vacate referred by district judges across the Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati divisions. Directly assigned cases are comparatively sparse, so the sample is not a fixed caseload census.
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 | 2 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2021 | 1 | 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 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, not for Judge Merz: 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 | 2,199 | 9 months |
| Closed with no court action | 1,037 | 7.5 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 810 | 7.2 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 343 | 15.2 months |
| Closed during trial | 9 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 2,199 | 9 months |
| Sep 2024 | 2,137 | 8.2 months |
| Sep 2023 | 2,153 | 9.7 months |
| Sep 2022 | 2,311 | 12.6 months |
| Sep 2021 | 2,287 | 10.4 months |
| Sep 2020 | 2,012 | 9.7 months |
| Sep 2019 | 5,561 | 41.6 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 Merz with the record in hand
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