Peter B. Silvain, Jr.
How Judge Silvain rules, drawn from 18 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Silvain
Peter B. Silvain, Jr. is a United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of Ohio in Dayton. He was appointed on May 10, 2021, after serving as a federal administrative law judge for the Social Security Administration and the Department of Labor.
Judge Silvain's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Silvain'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).
- 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 Silvain decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
A remand recommendation based on the Deskin rule was rejected because the district judge held that an ALJ may evaluate later medical evidence without a matching physician opinion; that theory is therefore vulnerable in this district.
“the Court finds that Defendant's Objections (Doc. 13) are well-taken and are thus SUSTAINED. The Court REJECTS the Report and Recommendation (Doc. 11) and FINDS that Defendant's decision is SUPPORTED BY SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE and, therefore, AFFIRMED.”
Procedural preferences
In a discovery-sanctions dispute, Silvain recommended dismissal after finding that no lesser sanction would adequately punish the plaintiff or deter similar conduct.
“There are no alternative sanctions here that would both adequately punish Plaintiff and deter future wrongdoers other than dismissal.”
In a habeas matter, he recommended dismissal without prejudice only after the petitioner ignored a deficiency notice and a show-cause order, each allowing time to cure the filing-fee defect.
“because Petitioner has failed to comply with the Deficiency Order issued on April 27, 2026, and the Order to Show Cause issued on June 10, 2026, the undersigned RECOMMENDS that this matter be DISMISSED without prejudice”
In a privilege dispute, Silvain denied immediate production but ordered in camera review where the withholding party relied on conclusory work-product labels.
“This is not enough to overcome the burden of establishing the work product privilege.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the Court OVERRULES the Commissioner's Objection (Doc. 13) and ACCEPTS and ADOPTS the Magistrate Judge's January 8, 2024 Report and Recommendation (Doc. 12) ... The Commissioner's non-disability finding is VACATED ... and REMANDS this matter to the Social Security Administration (under sentence four of 42 U.S.C. 405(g))”
“the Court finds that Defendant's Objections (Doc. 13) are well-taken and are thus SUSTAINED. The Court REJECTS the Report and Recommendation (Doc. 11) and FINDS that Defendant's decision is SUPPORTED BY SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE and, therefore, AFFIRMED.”
“this Court RECOMMENDS that this action be DISMISSED as barred by procedural default and, alternatively, as the relief sought is not cognizable in this habeas proceeding.”
“The Dominium Defendants' Motion to Dismiss (Doc. #46) be GRANTED; Plaintiff's Third Complaint (Doc. #39) be DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE”
“Defendant Lasky's Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to Civil Rule 12(B)(6) (Doc. #40) be DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE TO RENEWAL”
“Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. #54) be DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE TO RENEWAL”
“Defendant Anthony Corns's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. #41) be GRANTED; and The case be terminated on the Court's docket.”
“Having thoroughly reviewed the Complaint, for the following reasons, the undersigned RECOMMENDS that all remaining claims be DISMISSED without prejudice.”
“Plaintiff's Complaint be DISMISSED pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 1915(e)(2) and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(h)(3) WITHOUT PREJUDICE to filing his claims in state court”
“the Court OVERRULES Mr. Colston's Objection (ECF No. 21) and ADOPTS and AFFIRMS the Report and Recommendation (ECF No. 20)... the Court GRANTS Mr. Eddy's Motion for Summary Judgment. (ECF No. 14.)”
“The Report and Recommendation (Doc. 14) is ADOPTED. The Clerk of Court is directed to TRANSFER the Amended Petition to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for review and determination of whether this Court may consider the successive claims for relief.”
“it is RECOMMENDED that Plaintiff's Motion (Doc. 24) be GRANTED and this action be dismissed without prejudice.”
“It is therefore RECOMMENDED that the habeas petition be DENIED and this action be DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE... the Undersigned RECOMMENDS that the Petition be DENIED and this action be DIMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“Defendant's Motion for Sanctions (Doc. #77) be GRANTED; Plaintiff's action be DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE for failure to follow court orders to provide or permit discovery under Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(b)”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
A 2026 sample of Judge Silvain's directly assigned work is dominated by Social Security appeals and criminal-duty matters. His prisoner civil-rights and habeas merits work generally appears as recommendations in cases assigned to district judges. The sample is illustrative rather than a measured caseload distribution.
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 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 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 Silvain: 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 Silvain with the record in hand
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