Catherine Henry
How Judge Henry rules, drawn from 32 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Henry
Catherine Henry is a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Appointed by President Joseph R. Biden, Judge Henry received a commission on December 6, 2024.
Judge Henry's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Henry, as published on the court's website (checked October 8, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Filing
Do not send courtesy copies unless chambers requests them.
“Courtesy copies are not to be submitted unless specifically requested by chambers.”
Filing
Disclose use of AI in filed papers, identify the tool, and certify that cited authorities were checked.
“Parties who use Artificial Intelligence in preparing papers filed with the Court must declare the use of AI, which AI was used and must certify that the signer checked that all cited authorities are proper.”
Conferences
Submit the Rule 26(f) report at least five days before the Rule 16 conference.
“The Rule 26(f) report must be submitted no later than five (5) days before the Rule 16 conference.”
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 8, 2026).
- Standing Order on Procedure for Case Opening ↗
- Standing Order on Highly Sensitive Documents ↗
- Standing Order on Access and Management of Sealed Documents ↗
- Standing Order on Filing Procedures in Alien Detainee Cases ↗
- Second Amended Standing Order on Guilty Pleas and Sentencing ↗
- Standing Order on Electronic Document Submission for Unrepresented Litigants ↗
- Standing Procedural Order for Cases Seeking Social Security Review ↗
- Superseding Standing Order on Procedural Matters in Pro Se Civil and Habeas Cases ↗
- Standing Order on Electronic Access to Civil and Criminal Transcripts ↗
How Judge Henry decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Ramos-Cardona v. United States Department of Education, Henry remanded a public-service-loan-forgiveness decision because the Department had not considered eight comparable trustee-office cases or explained a relevant distinction.
“the Department failed to ‘point to a relevant distinction between’ Plaintiff’s case and those other cases.”
Procedural preferences
In Walton v. McCarthy, Henry construed the plaintiff’s opposition brief as a motion for leave to amend and granted leave to file an amended complaint within 30 days.
“Walton’s brief in opposition (ECF 19) is CONSTRUED as a motion for leave to amend, which motion is GRANTED.”
In one re-transfer dispute, Henry treated the transferor court’s ruling as binding under law of the case absent changed facts, changed law, or unusual circumstances. A renewed transfer request should confront that threshold directly.
“Thus, the Hayman Cash Register Co. rule binds the Court from revisiting the transfer order”
In one summary judgment dispute, Henry permitted a short late opposition after finding some good cause and no prejudice. She considered that striking the response could effectively decide the motion.
“striking his response as tardy might amount to granting the motion against him.”
Cautions
A barely developed alternative theory can fail even at the pleadings stage. Henry specifically noted the absence of supporting authority when declining to credit a speculative coverage theory.
“The argument quoted above is insufficiently developed and without citations to authority.”
In a store slip-and-fall summary judgment ruling, Henry required evidence linking packaging plastic on the floor to the store’s negligence; evidence that wrapped pallets were sometimes present did not suffice.
“some evidence that plastic from the packaging was negligently dropped to the floor and left there is required.”
In Franzone v. Schmidt Baking, Henry declined to compel arbitration under Maryland law because the distribution agreement made the Federal Arbitration Act the exclusive law for arbitration issues, and its transportation worker exception applied.
“there is no contractual basis for applying some other body of law to compel arbitration.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“HUD’s Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED.”
“I will grant the Motion in part.”
“The Motion to Strike is denied as moot.”
“I decline to award Defendants their attorneys’ fees and costs.”
The companion order states the precise count-level disposition for the memorandum opinion.
“grant Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment in part”
“deny Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment.”
“Waterman Affidavit is granted.”
“GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.”
“Plaintiff’s Motion for Judicial Intervention (Docket No. 9) and Motion to Expedite Hearing (Docket No. 15) are DENIED as moot.”
“The Motion to Dismiss of Lehigh County Solicitor Dave Backenstoe and Sheriff of Lehigh County Joseph Hanna (Docket No. 8) is DENIED as moot.”
“Defendants’ Second Partial Motion to Dismiss (ECF 18) is GRANTED.”
“Walton’s brief in opposition (ECF 19) is CONSTRUED as a motion for leave to amend, which motion is GRANTED.”
“GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART”
“Wagner’s Motion to Appoint Counsel (ECF No. 6) is DENIED.”
“granting the motion for judgment on the pleadings by Nautilus”
“denying judgment to the defendants.”
“I will deny the Motion without prejudice.”
“I grant Quintero Sanchez’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus”
“the Motion is GRANTED in part. It is further ORDERED as follows: 1. Plaintiff Kathleen Flynn’s causes of action against Defendant (Counts I and II) shall be submitted to arbitration. 2. The case is STAYED pending Plaintiff Kathleen Flynn’s arbitration.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median motion-to-ruling time: 73.0 days (N = 8).
Among the twenty oldest assignments, five were marked terminated in case-level metadata and fifteen remained pending. Six were coded as civil-rights matters, two as personal-injury matters, one as copyright, one as wage-and-hour, and ten lacked a usable nature-of-suit label in the sampled metadata.
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 |
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 Eastern District of Pennsylvania, not for Judge Henry: 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 | 5,730 | 5.1 months |
| Closed with no court action | 1,952 | 3.2 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 2,834 | 4.7 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 898 | 10 months |
| Closed during trial | 46 | 17.8 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 5,730 | 5.1 months |
| Sep 2024 | 6,200 | 4.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 6,595 | 7 months |
| Sep 2022 | 5,221 | 6.6 months |
| Sep 2021 | 5,245 | 6.5 months |
| Sep 2020 | 4,686 | 5.7 months |
| Sep 2019 | 5,374 | 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 Henry with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Henry, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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