Leo A. Latella
How Judge Latella rules, drawn from 17 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Latella
Leo A. Latella has served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania since June 2025. He previously served as an assistant federal public defender and acting chief federal public defender in the district. He earned a law degree from the Dickinson School of Law and an advanced law degree from Temple University.
Judge Latella's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Latella, 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
Request an extension of a case management deadline by timely motion showing unusual circumstances.
“dates and deadlines will not ordinarily be subject to extensions, unless unusual circumstances are presented and a timely motion to extend is filed.”
Discovery
Use the discovery dispute procedure before moving to compel or filing another discovery motion.
“Prior to filing a motion to compel or any other type of discovery-oriented motions, the moving party must utilize this procedure.”
Trial
Jointly prepare an agreed special verdict slip.
“Judge Latella 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 Latella decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In one discovery dispute, he treated compliance with the court’s pre-motion conference rule as mandatory.
“Compliance is not optional.”
In one transfer dispute, he favored transfer over dismissal to protect a self-represented litigant from avoidable prejudice.
“transfer protects the rights of the pro se Plaintiff and avoids any potential prejudice that might flow from outright dismissal.”
Procedural preferences
He requires counsel to confer and then file a docket letter before making a discovery motion.
“Prior to filing a motion to compel or any other type of discovery-oriented motions, the moving party must utilize this procedure.”
Cautions
A party seeking reconsideration after transfer failed to show any newly available evidence, legal change, or clear error.
“Defendant fails to satisfy the ‘stringent’ standard for reconsideration.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the Commissioner’s decision be AFFIRMED”
“Defendant Clancy’s Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 22) be GRANTED”
“Defendant Muldrow’s Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 25) be GRANTED”
“Defendant Clancy’s Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 55) be GRANTED in its entirety”
“Defendant Muldrow’s Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 54) be GRANTED in its entirety”
“the court shall grant Plaintiff ’s Motion (Doc. 3)”
“we will grant Detective Bohrman’s Motion for summary judgment”
“Forcine’s Motion Show Cause Motion (Doc. 68) will be granted in part and denied in part.”
“Forcine’s Motion for a Protective Order (Doc. 73) will be denied.”
“Defendants Cross-Motion to Compel Written Discovery and Depositions from Plaintiff (Doc. 78) will be granted in”
“Counts V and VI will be dismissed with prejudice.”
“Plaintiff’s Motion to Transfer to the Southern District of New York is granted.”
“Defendant’s Motion for Reconsideration (Doc. 39) is denied.”
“denied as moot”
“Plaintiffs’ Motion to Remand, (Doc. 10), be GRANTED”
“the application to proceed in forma pauperis, (Doc. 7), and the Motion to Dismiss, (Doc. 18), be DENIED as Moot.”
“Plaintiff’s Request for U.S. Marshal to Serve Defendants will be denied without prejudice”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median motion-to-ruling time: 23.5 days (N = 2).
The sampled assignments include Social Security, civil rights, and commercial disputes. The small sample cannot represent the courtwide case mix.
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 | 1 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 12 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 3 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 1 | 3 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 2 |
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 Latella: 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 Latella with the record in hand
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