William Scott Hardy
How Judge Hardy decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On a Social Security appeal he applies harmless-error rigorously: an ALJ's failure to address a particular item (here an emotional-support animal) is immaterial absent record evidence that it was 'medically necessary', and a borderline-age argument fails where the ALJ relied on vocational-expert testimony tied to the claimant's actual age and limitations.
“there is no other evidence that would show Rentz's cat was “medically necessary””
Procedural preferences
When he dismisses on 12(b)(6) he strongly favors curable dismissals: he dismisses the deficient claim WITHOUT prejudice and sets a dated leave to amend, with failure to replead converting it to a with-prejudice dismissal -- so a well-pleaded amended complaint is the expected next step, not the end of the case.
“dismissed without prejudice pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) ... Canaan will be afforded time to amend the claim that the Court has dismissed”
On an adopted Magistrate Judge R&R he does not rubber-stamp: he will adopt the recommended disposition in part (e.g. Eleventh Amendment immunity) while expressly declining the R&R's reasoning on a separate ground (the Heck bar) and substituting his own analysis.
“The Court adopts the R&R (ECF No. 23) as the opinion of the Court in part ... The Court does not adopt the R&R with respect to its analysis of the Heck bar.”
Cautions
He enforces motion deadlines: a belated request for LEAVE to file a Rule 12(c) judgment-on-the-pleadings motion was denied in a long-pending case, so a defendant who sits on a dispositive theory may lose the chance to raise it.
“motion for leave to file a motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Rule 12(c) will be denied”
On summary judgment he resists deciding fact-bound disputes prematurely: a defense MSJ was denied where the record was incomplete, and he deferred a bound-up spoliation-sanctions ruling to closer to trial rather than resolve it on the existing record.
“while the motion for summary judgment is denied, it is proper to defer a final ruling on the issue of spoliation”
Motion outcomes
Counted from classified signed orders only. Percentages are shown only where the sample is large enough to be meaningful; smaller samples are reported as raw counts.
| Summary judgment N = 4 |
Granted: 1Denied: 3 | counts only |
| Motions to dismiss N = 3 |
Granted: 2Granted in part: 1 | counts only |
| Judgment on pleadings N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
A "1 of 1" is one ruling, not a tendency. Treat small samples as illustrative, not predictive.
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“AND NOW, this 22nd day of June, 2023, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket No. 29) is DENIED.”
“it is hereby ORDERED that the Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 14) filed by defendants is granted in its entirety. The complaint (ECF No. 1) is dismissed with prejudice.”
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Rentz's Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket No. 8) is DENIED and the Commissioner's Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket No. 12) is GRANTED.”
“the Commissioner's Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket No. 12) is GRANTED.”
“Canaan's Complaint is granted in part and denied in part. The motion is granted insofar as Ms. Canaan's IIED claim is dismissed without prejudice pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), but denied with respect to all other claims. ... Canaan will be afforded time to amend the claim that the Court has dismissed, after which time any failure to file an amended complaint will result in the dismissal with prejudice of that claim.”
“Defendants' motion for leave to file a motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Rule 12(c) will be denied. ... (Docket No. 143), which the Court construes as Defendants' motion for leave to file a motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c), is DENIED.”
“19) is GRANTED, and the claims asserted against them are DISMISSED pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. ... Should Plaintiff fail to timely file an Amended Complaint, the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment claims in the Complaint that are presently being dismissed without prejudice, will be dismissed with prejudice.”
“the motion is DENIED to the extent Plaintiff is seeking summary judgment, and the motion is GRANTED to the extent Plaintiff seeks to add the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole as a Defendant if Plaintiff chooses to file an Amended Complaint.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Enumerated via assigned_judge='W. Scott Hardy', order_by dateFiled asc. NOTABLE: he presides over a large ANTITRUST MDL -- In re Diisocyanates Antitrust Litigation (2:18-mc-01001) with many BASF/Bayer member dockets (e.g. 2:18-cv-01420, -01422, -01427, -01430, -01431, -01432, Rhino Linings, Finishing Solutions, C.U.E., Emma Chemicals, Unicast, Era Polymers, Tri-Iso). Other mix: FLSA/wage-and-hour (Williams v. Bob Evans Restaurants 2:18-cv-01353), commercial-contract and insurance diversity (Communications Supply Corp v. Iron Bow 2:18-cv-01374, 400 5th Ave v. Lexington Insurance 2:18-cv-01360), product liability (Hein), Section 1983 civil rights (Diebold, Brown, Murphy), Social Security appeals (Rentz). As of 2026 a SURGE of alien-detainee Section 2241 habeas petitions floods his newest dockets (Akter v. Oddo, Gutierrez Sevilla v. Noem). Several pre-2020 dockets are inherited from Nora Barry Fischer (reassignment artifacts).