Susan Judy Dlott

How Judge Dlott rules, drawn from 17 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Court
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio
Position
district
Appointed by
Bill Clinton (Democratic)
Commissioned
1995-12-26
Education
University of Pennsylvania (B.A., 1970); Boston University School of Law (J.D., 1973)
Signed orders read
17

How Judge Dlott decides

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

What persuades

Grants a defendant's summary judgment — including on its counterclaim — where the movant establishes entitlement as a matter of law.

“Vera Bradley’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 52) is GRANTED as to both Vesi’s claim against it and its counterclaim against Vesi for $47,684.43.”

Procedural preferences

Grants partial motions to dismiss, dismissing the deficient claims while allowing leave to amend in part and remanding remaining state claims where appropriate.

“Defendant’s Partial Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 1-3 at PageID 22–28) is GRANTED. Plaintiff’s conversion and civil theft claims are DISMISSED.”

Cautions

Denies motions to reconsider a prior summary-judgment ruling.

“the Motion to Reconsider the Motion for Summary Judgment of the Police Officers (doc. 151) is DENIED.”

The 2026 immigration-detention sample runs in both directions: after granting relief in earlier Section 1226(a) cases, she denied later petitions and emergency injunction requests where a voluntary-departure order changed the governing detention posture.

“Agyei’s Habeas Petitions (Docs. 1, 8) and TRO Motions (Docs. 2, 9) are DENIED.”

Signed rulings

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

Washington Marine, LLC v. Kunz
· 2024-11-13
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“Defendant’s Partial Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 1-3 at PageID 22–28) is GRANTED. Plaintiff’s conversion and civil theft claims are DISMISSED.”

Vesi Incorporated v. Vera Bradley Designs, Inc.
· 2023-01-04
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted

“Vera Bradley’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 52) is GRANTED as to both Vesi’s claim against it and its counterclaim against Vesi for $47,684.43.”

Motion for leave to file (plaintiff) Granted

“Vesi’s Motion for Leave to File a Sur-Reply (Doc. 93) is GRANTED, but the arguments and evidence cited therein were not dispositive of the summary judgment issues.”

Vaughn v. EquityExperts.org Midwest, LLC
· 2023-11-13

The court allowed five-page supplemental briefs on judicial estoppel and deferred the request for oral argument without deciding the pending cross-motions for summary judgment.

The Hillman Group, Inc. v. Minute Key, Inc.
· 2014-08-15
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“Minute Key’s motions to dismiss (Doc. 28, 29) are granted”

Motion for leave to amend (plaintiff) Granted in part

“Hillman’s Motion for Leave to File an Amended Complaint and motion to file documents under seal (Doc. 40, 42) are granted in part”

Gillett v. United Steelworkers of America, Local 7697
· 2014-04-25
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted

“the Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 27) is GRANTED”

Summary judgment (plaintiff) Denied

“Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 28) is DENIED.”

Batchelor v. Wilkinson
· 2015-07-09
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“the Court will grant Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss (Doc. 11, 12) and dismiss Plaintiff’s claims against those Defendants without prejudice.”

Jones v. City of Cincinnati
· 2011-10-13
Motion for reconsideration (defendant) Denied

“the Motion to Reconsider the Motion for Summary Judgment of the Police Officers (doc. 151) is DENIED.”

Taylor v. Hooven
1:24-cv-00204 · 2025-05-22
Motions to dismiss (third-party defendant) Granted in part

“Officer Hooven’s first and second claims are dismissed, but his third and fourth claims are not dismissed.”

Motion for sanctions (third-party defendant) Denied

“The Motion for Sanctions (Doc. 94) is DENIED.”

Taylor v. Hooven
1:24-cv-00204 · 2025-04-15
Motion for reconsideration (plaintiff) Granted in part

“The Motion for Reconsideration is granted in so far as the January 3, 2025 Dismissal Order is amended in two ways.”

Motion to certify (plaintiff) Denied

“Finally, the Plaintiffs’ Motion to Certify is denied at this time.”

Norman v. City of Cincinnati
1:24-cv-00309 · 2025-03-13
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“(Docs. 21, 23, 24 30, 31) are GRANTED.”

Judgment on the pleadings (defendant) Granted

“DiSalvo Development and Pete DiSalvo’s Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings (Doc. 41) is GRANTED.”

United States v. Dryden
1:24-cr-00066 · 2026-02-12
Motion for reconsideration (defendant) Denied

“the Court is unable to accept the Rule 11(c)(1)(C) Plea Agreement and denies Defendant’s Motion for Reconsideration.”

Cruz v. Noem
1:26-cv-00158 · 2026-04-07
Petition for writ of habeas corpus (petitioner) Granted

“the Court will GRANT the Habeas Petition and DENY AS MOOT the Motion for Summary Judgment.”

Summary judgment (petitioner) Moot / procedural
Motions to dismiss (respondent) Moot / procedural

“The Court will DENY AS MOOT the Motion to Dismiss.”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

The caseload sample includes eight terminated civil cases filed from 2020 through 2022 for duration analysis and ten pending 2026 matters illustrating the current mix of cases.

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