Francisco A. Besosa
How Judge Besosa rules, drawn from 21 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Besosa
Francisco Augusto Besosa is a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Judge Besosa received a commission on September 27, 2006. Judge Besosa assumed senior status on January 1, 2022.
Judge Besosa's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Besosa, 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.
- Amended Permanent Order of Disqualification ↗
- Motions Alleging Violations of Supervised Release Conditions Filed Before Judge Francisco A. Besosa ↗
- Communications by Counsel and their Staff With Judge Besosa's Chambers Staff and Court Personnel ↗
- General Standing Order in re: Section 2255 Proceedings Assigned to the Docket of Senior Judge Francisco A. Besosa ↗
Key rules
Filing
The government must respond to every § 2255 motion assigned to Senior Judge Besosa.
“the government will respond to all motions filed by all defendants”
Discovery
In supervised release violation matters before Judge Besosa, probation chronos will not be disclosed to either side.
“chronological notes prepared by the probation officers”
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).
- General Standing Order - Revocation Proceedings ↗
- General Standing Order in re: Change of Plea Hearing ↗
- General Standing Order in re: Procedures for Initial Appearances ↗
- Standing Order In Re: Appropriate Attire ↗
- Standing Order In Re: Access to Presentence Reports Pursuant to Standing Order 11: Request for Copies ↗
- Standing Order In Re: Storage and Management of Sealed and Restricted Documents: New Guidelines ↗
How Judge Besosa decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In United States v. Alicea-Curras, Besosa declined to dismiss the indictment on a disputed factual premise about whether the charged devices were machineguns, leaving the issue for trial.
“The R&R is correct: To grant the relief requested in the second motion to dismiss would require this Court to accept as true Alicea's rendition of the facts, which the United States disputes.”
In United States v. Delgado-Lopez, he denied suppression because the defendant had not shown a reasonable expectation of privacy in the searched truck: he did not own it and supplied no evidence of permission or repeated use.
“Delgado has not established he has a reasonable expectation of privacy in the F-150. He does not own the vehicle; he has not provided a sworn statement from his brother, the owner of the vehicle, that Delgado had permission to use the vehicle, and has not shown a pattern of repeated use of the vehicle.”
Procedural preferences
In United States v. Figaro-Benjamin, Besosa denied a joint suppression motion filed nearly fourteen months after his pretrial deadline as untimely.
“the defendants filed the joint motion to suppress nearly fourteen months after the Court imposed deadline to do so ... Accordingly, the defendants' joint motion to suppress is DENIED as untimely.”
In Ruiz-Romero v. Hotel Aloft Ponce, Besosa reduced a fee request after finding vague or duplicative billing entries and declining to credit trial time for attorneys who had not actively participated.
“Time records that are too generic and insufficient as a practical matter to permit a court to answer questions about excessiveness, redundancy, and the like[,] should be discounted or disallowed.”
In an employment judgment, the judge taxed filing and interpreter expenses but declined to tax deposition transcripts without a showing that they were needed for the case.
“The deposition transcripts, however, have not been shown to have been ‘necessarily obtained for use in the case.’”
When defendants appealed an employment judgment without obtaining a stay or posting a bond, the judge allowed the plaintiff to proceed with execution after the automatic stay expired.
“Although defendants appealed the judgment, they did not seek a stay or post a supersedeas bond pursuant to Rule 62(b).”
Cautions
In Santiago-Rodriguez v. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, he dismissed the ADA, Law 44, and individual Title VII claims with prejudice while allowing other claims in the employment suit to proceed.
“the ADA and Law 44 causes of action, and the Title VII claims against Oliveras, Garcia, and Martir are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the defendants' motion to dismiss is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. ... The ADA and Law 44 causes of action, and the Title VII claims against Oliveras, Garcia, and Martir are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“the Court GRANTS Santiago's motion to amend the complaint. (Docket No. 9)”
“the Court ADOPTS the magistrate judge's December 16, 2024 Report and Recommendation. ... Alicea's motion to dismiss the indictment is DENIED. (Docket No. 119.)”
“the defendants' joint motion to suppress is DENIED as untimely. ... Pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(c)(3), 'the Court need not review a motion to suppress that was untimely filed.'”
“The Court ADOPTS the magistrate judge's findings and recommendations. (Docket No. 76.) Accordingly, Villa's motion to suppress is DENIED. (Docket Nos. 28, 34 & 69.)”
“the Court DENIES defendant Delgado's motion to suppress and DENIES his request for a Franks hearing. (Docket No. 20.)”
“the United States' motion to exclude evidence suggesting that the USPS failed to prevent the delay of election mail is GRANTED. (Docket No. 121.)”
“the Court DENIES defendants' motion for partial reconsideration. (Docket No. 34.)”
“the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART the defendant's motion to dismiss ... The defendant's motion to dismiss is DENIED as to the hostile work environment claims and GRANTED as to the disparate treatment and digital face altering causes of action, as well as to claims against the USPS for activities attributable to the APWU.”
“the Court ... DENIES the parties' cross motions for sanctions (Docket Nos 61 and 73). ... the Court holds that Rule 11 sanctions are unwarranted at this time.”
“the Court ... DENIES the parties' cross motions for sanctions (Docket Nos 61 and 73).”
“Reynoso's motion to stay pending an appeal is DENIED. (Docket No. 27.)”
“plaintiff's motion for attorneys' fees (Docket No. 112) is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. Plaintiff is awarded a total of $10,650.00 in attorneys' fees.”
“defendants' motion to strike (Docket No. 95) is DENIED.”
“GRANTS IN PART AND DENIES IN PART Zurqui, Inc. and the Valledor defendants' motion for summary judgment (Docket No. 80); all claims brought by plaintiff Alicia Vincenty-Medina against all defendants are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“the Valledor matrimony's ... motion[] for summary judgment [is GRANTED] (Docket Nos. 75 & 81); ... all claims against Jose Valledor, Concepcion Valledor, and their conjugal partnership are DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“the Court GRANTS ... PDMYC's motion[] for summary judgment (Docket Nos. 75 & 81); all claims against PDMYC are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“the defendants' motion to dismiss is DENIED. (Docket No. 26.)”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- The sampled caseload is weighted toward civil-rights and employment-discrimination suits against Commonwealth agencies, admiralty and maritime-drug-trafficking prosecutions, and firearms and immigration-related criminal matters.
- It also includes Social Security appeals, many transferred to a magistrate judge with the parties' consent.
- Filings through 2026 are consistent with an actively sitting senior judge.
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 | 0 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 1 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2025 | 1 | 4 |
| Sep 2024 | 3 | 6 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 2 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 2 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 3 |
| Sep 2020 | 3 | 1 |
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 United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, not for Judge Besosa: 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 | 584 | 13.9 months |
| Closed with no court action | 84 | 7.6 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 470 | 14.1 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 13 | 37.1 months |
| Closed during trial | 17 | 37.2 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 584 | 13.9 months |
| Sep 2024 | 706 | 13.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 778 | 17.6 months |
| Sep 2022 | 725 | 19 months |
| Sep 2021 | 818 | 17.1 months |
| Sep 2020 | 862 | 13.9 months |
| Sep 2019 | 1,249 | 16.8 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 Besosa with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Besosa, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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