Peter Joseph Phipps
How Judge Phipps rules, drawn from 3 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Phipps left this court for the U.S. Supreme Court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Phipps
Peter Joseph Phipps was a judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Appointed by President Donald J. Trump, Judge Phipps received a commission on October 17, 2018. Judge Phipps left the court on July 22, 2019 on appointment to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
How Judge Phipps decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In a discovery dispute, Phipps favored resolving the case on its merits when replacing deemed admissions would not unfairly prejudice the requesting party.
“this case is more fairly presented on the merits by permitting defendant to withdraw its admissions and amend its responses.”
Procedural preferences
When a plaintiff sought to dismiss all claims against one defendant in a multi-defendant case, Phipps treated Rule 41 as the preferred procedure.
“Rule 41 is the preferred method for dismissal of all claims against one defendant in a multi-defendant case.”
Cautions
In a debt-collection complaint, Phipps required facts supporting the statute’s specialized definition rather than a merely possible fit.
“mere potential falls short of plausibility.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that all claims in this action against defendant Ronald Sofranko are dismissed without prejudice.”
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the motion is GRANTED.”
“Because both Rule 36(b) elements are satisfied here, defendant's motion to withdraw or amend admissions, ECF No. 35, is GRANTED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
A fixed cohort of the first 15 cases filed after commission was reviewed; all had terminated, with a median filed-to-termination duration of 133 days. The cohort is descriptive of this brief tenure and is not a complete caseload census.
A historical record
Judge Phipps left this court for the U.S. Supreme Court. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.