Keli Marie Neary
How Judge Neary rules, drawn from 17 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Neary
Keli Marie Neary is a judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Appointed by President Joseph R. Biden, Judge Neary received a commission on January 17, 2025.
Judge Neary's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Neary, 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.
Key rules
Motions
Head a proposed order “Order” when submitting it with a motion.
“When filing a proposed order with a motion, include a heading as ‘Order’ rather than ‘Proposed Order’ or ‘[Proposed] Order.’”
Discovery
Raise a discovery dispute through a docket letter that describes it and requests a conference.
“Counsel is to raise any discovery dispute with the court through the filing of a letter on the docket describing the nature of the dispute and requesting a conference with the court.”
Trial
Prepare an agreed special verdict slip jointly.
“Judge Neary requires that counsel jointly prepare an agreed-upon special verdict slip.”
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).
How Judge Neary decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Vakili v. MTD Products Inc., she granted summary judgment after excluding the plaintiff's causation opinion, leaving no proper causation evidence to present to the jury.
“With no proper evidence on causation to present to the jury summary judgment is appropriate.”
In Flory v. Pennsylvania State University, Neary remanded state whistleblower claims after finding that their reference to a federal statute did not make them arise under federal law.
“The mere reliance on a federal statute, however, does not mean that this state law claim arises under federal law.”
Procedural preferences
In Vakili v. MTD Products Inc., she disregarded extra paragraphs in the plaintiff’s response to the defendants’ statement of facts because they did not conform to the local summary judgment rule.
“By including additional (non-correlating) paragraphs in his responsive statement of facts, Vakili’s statement does not adhere to the Local Rules.”
In Harrell v. Mayer, she deferred a ruling on the admissibility of the plaintiff’s prior conviction until trial, when the court could perform Rule 403 balancing.
“the court will defer ruling on the admissibility of Harrell’s conviction until trial.”
Cautions
In Carr v. Cuffaro, Neary denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss, including their insufficiently developed qualified-immunity argument. She rejected the premise that Carr had to show the defense did not apply.
“it is not Carr's burden to show that qualified immunity does not apply.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“defendant's motion (Doc. 15) to dismiss is GRANTED and the petition for review that was transferred to this court from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit at original docket number 1:23-CV-1653 is DISMISSED with prejudice.”
“MCP's motion (Doc. 43) to dismiss the case is DENIED.”
“The court will grant MTD's motion in limine to the extent it wishes to preclude Krafchick from offering testimony on causation.”
“Therefore, the court will grant MTD's motion for summary judgment.”
“Plaintiff's motion for voluntary dismissal of all claims against defendant Beth Rickard (Doc. 7) is GRANTED.”
“Plaintiff's motion for leave to conduct discovery to facilitate service of process on the John Doe defendants (Doc. 6) is DENIED as moot.”
“Because loanDepot's claim is time barred by the plain terms of the contract and because Balint concurred in Allstate's motion, Allstate's motions for summary judgment will be granted”
“Allstate's motions for summary judgment will be granted and loanDepot's motion will be denied.”
“Thus, defendants' motions for summary judgment shall be granted.”
“Because the court is granting the Medical Defendants' summary judgment motion, their motion in limine will be denied as moot.”
“As to Ms. Clark's claim to interference of her FMLA rights, Defendants' motion for summary judgement (Doc. 25) is denied as to Geisinger. As to the individuals named in the complaint, the FMLA retaliation claims, and the ADA and PHRA claims, summary judgment is granted in favor of Defendants.”
“The court will grant defendants' motions to dismiss the amended complaint with prejudice.”
“The motion to dismiss, motion for entry of default, and motion to strike are denied.”
“The court will grant Flory's motion (Doc. 10) and remand this action to the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County.”
“Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment is denied”
“defendant Kothe's motion for summary judgment is granted”
“defendant Mayer and Kimmick's motion for summary judgment is granted in part and denied in part”
“Defendant's motions in limine to preclude evidence that he trained as a UFC fighter ... are granted.”
“Defendant's motions in limine to preclude ... several hearsay statements ... are granted.”
“granted to the extent it seeks to preclude plaintiff from testifying that the force used by defendant was ‘excessive,’ but denied without prejudice to the extent it seeks to preclude plaintiff from testifying about causation.”
“Defendant's motion seeking to deem admissible video and photo evidence of the incident is granted subject to defendant introducing sufficient testimony to authenticate the evidence during trial.”
“Defendant's motions in limine to preclude ... evidence regarding settlement negotiations ... are granted.”
“Defendant's motions in limine to preclude ... evidence regarding possible indemnity by Dauphin County or its insurer ... are granted.”
“Defendant's motions in limine to preclude ... evidence of other cases filed against Dauphin County are granted.”
“Defendant's motions in limine seeking to bar plaintiff from recovering punitive damages ... are denied without prejudice.”
“Defendant's motions in limine seeking to ... bar plaintiff from introducing evidence relevant to dismissed claims ... are denied without prejudice.”
“Defendant's motions in limine seeking to ... admit evidence of plaintiff's felony conviction are denied without prejudice.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median motion-to-ruling time: 9.5 days (N = 4).
The oldest assigned cohort mixes employment, civil-rights, habeas, personal-injury, and commercial matters, but most were inherited and should not be read as a filing-era caseload profile for Judge Neary.
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 | 9 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 1 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 9 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 9 | 9 |
| Sep 2025 | 21 | 14 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 10 |
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 Middle District of Pennsylvania, not for Judge Neary: 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 | 1,590 | 8.5 months |
| Closed with no court action | 660 | 6 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 901 | 10.6 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 21 | 39.8 months |
| Closed during trial | 8 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 1,590 | 8.5 months |
| Sep 2024 | 1,535 | 8.7 months |
| Sep 2023 | 1,370 | 11 months |
| Sep 2022 | 1,550 | 12.7 months |
| Sep 2021 | 1,420 | 9.4 months |
| Sep 2020 | 1,410 | 10.6 months |
| Sep 2019 | 1,611 | 11 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 Neary with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Neary, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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