Elizabeth T. Hey
How Judge Hey rules, drawn from 6 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Hey
Elizabeth T. Hey began serving as a United States magistrate judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on April 9, 2007. She retired in 2026. She earned a bachelor's degree from Vassar College and a law degree from Villanova University School of Law.
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 Hey decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In DiLuigi v. Astrue, Hey recommended vacating the denial of disability benefits and remanding for further consideration of substantial gainful activity at step one. The district judge adopted her recommendation and ordered a sentence-four remand.
“The final decision of the Commissioner denying disability benefits to Roxanne DiLuigi is VACATED”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“On July 17, 2023, Judge Hey recommended that Dowdy's petition be denied as untimely under 28 U.S.C. 2244(d) ... The Report and Recommendation (ECF No. 16) is ADOPTED. The petition for a writ of habeas corpus (ECF No. 1) is DENIED.”
“The Report and Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge Elizabeth T. Hey dated July 29, 2019, is APPROVED and ADOPTED; ... objections ... are OVERRULED; ... The Petition Under 28 U.S.C. 2254 ... is DISMISSED.”
“The petitioner's objections are OVERRULED; The Report and Recommendation of Magistrate Judge Elizabeth T. Hey is APPROVED and ADOPTED; The Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus is DENIED.”
“The Report and Recommendation is APPROVED and ADOPTED. The final decision of the Commissioner denying disability benefits to Roxanne DiLuigi is VACATED; and The matter is REMANDED to the Commissioner, pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. 405(g).”
“Plaintiff's motion in limine to deem him full tort as a matter of law (Doc. 17) is DENIED.”
“Plaintiff's motion in limine to prevent Defendants from disputing causation (Doc. 19) is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.”
“Plaintiff's motion in limine (Doc. 20) is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.”
“Defendant's motion in limine to preclude any testimony or reference to Plaintiff's claims for future medical treatment (Doc. 22) is DENIED.”
“I conclude that the decision of the Administrative Law Judge (‘ALJ’) is supported by substantial evidence and affirm the Commissioner's decision.”
“The ALJ properly evaluated the opinion evidence, and his conclusion that Plaintiff was only disabled during a closed period from June 2017 through June 2019 is supported by substantial evidence. Therefore, I will affirm the Commissioner's decision.”
“the decision of the Administrative Law Judge (‘ALJ’) is reversed and the matter is remanded for further proceedings pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).”
“For the reasons that follow, I will grant Plaintiff's motion and dismiss Defendant's counterclaims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.”
“In addition, I find that the allegations in and attachment to the SAC are sufficient to survive the motion to dismiss.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Judge Hey's consent docket is dominated by Social Security disability appeals and also includes employment discrimination, prisoner civil-rights, personal-injury, and insurance cases. She separately handles referred habeas and Social Security matters for district judges. The reviewed consent appeals show lengthy intervals between briefing and decision.
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 | 19 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 1 | 1 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 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 Eastern District of Pennsylvania, not for Judge Hey: 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 Hey with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Hey, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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