David Stewart Cercone
How Judge Cercone decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
At the pleading stage in an insurance-broker negligence case, he treated a plausible mismatch between the insured's stated business needs and the procured coverage as sufficient where a third-party misdesignation appeared reasonably foreseeable.
“plaintiff has raised a plausible basis to support a finding that as an insurance broker, defendant fell short in properly inquiring and explaining the coverage needed to meet the insured's stated goals under the attendant circumstances.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“IT IS ORDERED that [73], [77] the motions be, and the same hereby are, granted. Summary judgment is granted against plaintiff and in favor of these defendants on all remaining claim in the case”
“[18], [28], [35] and [85] - the Motions to Dismiss filed by Defendants Mack, Vogel, the Erie Police Department, Erie County Prison, Warden Sutter, and DeJohn are granted in their entirety with prejudice; these Defendants are dismissed from this civil action; any concomitant request for leave to amend is denied as futile”
“[42] - the Motion to Dismiss filed by Defendant I. Asar, M.D., is granted to the extent Plaintiff is seeking to assert an alleged HIPAA violation and denied insofar as it seeks to dismiss any medical negligence claim for failure to file a Certificate of Merit”
“[99], [100] - the motion for judgment filed by plaintiff is denied”
“IT FUTHER IS ORDERED that [10] defendant Owl Cleaner's motion to dismiss be, and the same hereby is, denied as moot.”
“IT IS ORDERED that [142] the defendants' motion for partial summary judgment be, and the same hereby is, granted”
“[145] plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment be, and the same hereby is, denied.”
“IT IS ORDERED that [50] the Defendant=s Motion for Summary Judgment be, and the same hereby is, denied.”
“IT IS ORDERED that defendant's motion for summary judgment (Doc. No. 15) be, and the same hereby is, granted. Accordingly, final judgment is granted in favor of defendant and against plaintiff on all claims in the case.”
“IT IS ORDERED that plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment (Document No. 25) be, and the same hereby is, GRANTED.”
“We have found nothing of concern, must less anything that would entitle Rega to habeas relief or further review by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals through the issuance of a Certificate of Appealability. ... Accordingly, a Certificate of Appealability will be denied.”
“plaintiff's motion to exclude the testimony of David Nasser and Christopher Kercsmar will be denied”
“defendants' motion to exclude the expert testimony of Jeffrey Somerlot will be denied”
“having found that Rutila's opinions meet the foundational requirements for admission under Rule 702, plaintiff's motion will be denied without prejudice.”
“plaintiff's motion seeking to preclude the expert testimony of Philip R. Urwin [174] will be denied.”
“Defendants' motion to exclude the expert testimony of W. Michael Birmingham [185] will be granted in part and denied in part. The motion will be granted to the extent it seeks to prohibit Birmingham from testifying as to Farrell's opinions and the related portions of the Rhodes Report. The motion will be denied in all other aspects.”
“plaintiff's motion to exclude the expert testimony and report of James V. Farrell will be granted in part and denied in part. The motion will be granted to the extent it seeks to prohibit Farrell from testifying as to the burden of proof for lost damages and/or whether it has been met. The motion will be denied in all other aspects.”
“Defendants' motion to exclude the expert testimony and report of Mark M. Gleason and Gregory Landgraf will be denied.”
“Those warrants were not fruit of the poisonous tree. As a result, defendant's motion to suppress on this ground also will be denied.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The 2019-2023 sample includes employment-discrimination, insurance bad-faith, wage-and-hour, consumer-credit, commercial, criminal, post-conviction, and prisoner civil-rights matters. Many sampled employment, insurance, and wage cases were referred to mediation early and settled before a dispositive ruling.
Put Judge Cercone's record to work
Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Cercone actually rules, not a generic AI guess.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Cercone's own signed orders and cites them.