Pedro A. Delgado-Hernández
How Judge Delgado-Hernández rules, drawn from 25 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Delgado-Hernández
Pedro Alberto Delgado Hernández is a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Judge Delgado Hernández received a commission on March 7, 2014.
Judge Delgado-Hernández's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Delgado-Hernández, 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 ↗
- In Re. Motions for Change of Plea ↗
- Standing Order Concerning Petitions for Early Termination of Supervised Release Term ↗
- Change of Plea Hearings ↗
Key rules
Motions
A motion for change of plea under a plea agreement must identify whether Rule 11(c)(1)(B) or (C) applies.
“any motion for change of plea pursuant to a plea agreement shall”
Motions
A petition for early termination of supervised release must provide the case background, recidivism, personal circumstances, and legal support listed in the order.
“in all future petitions for early termination to be filed”
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 Delgado-Hernández decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On a motion to dismiss, tests only whether the complaint states a plausible claim, taking well-pleaded facts as true and setting aside conclusory allegations rather than weighing the merits.
“To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must allege a plausible entitlement to relief.”
In employment-discrimination cases, will not second-guess an employer's legitimate, non-discriminatory reason absent evidence of pretext, stressing that courts are not to act as super personnel departments.
“courts may not sit as super personnel departments,”
In Jiménez-Marcial, after dismissing the former administrative law judges' federal due-process claims, Delgado-Hernández dismissed their remaining Puerto Rico law claims without prejudice.
“Because the federal constitutional claims will be dismissed, the remaining state claims must be dismissed, without prejudice.”
Procedural preferences
In Jiménez-Marcial, he limited his analysis to the complaint's claims and did not consider a First Amendment theory raised only in the plaintiffs' opposition brief.
“the court will limit its analysis to the claims included in the complaint.”
In Monell-Acevedo, he rejected the defendants' Mt. Healthy defense at the pleading stage while allowing the plaintiffs' First Amendment claim to proceed.
“Courts in this district have previously found this defense to be inapplicable when evaluating the sufficiency of pleadings.”
In Calderón-Torres, he granted SIG Sauer's sanctions motion in part after the plaintiffs produced documents without identifying which requests they answered, and ordered supplemental responses and a show-cause filing.
“Plaintiffs’ counsel stacked a bunch of documents with no reference to which request each pertained and waited for SIG to sort through it.”
Cautions
Reads self-represented litigants' pleadings liberally but holds them to the same procedural and substantive rules as represented parties.
“a litigant’s exercise of his right to self-representation does not exempt him from complying with the relevant rules of procedural and substantive law.”
In Ramos, he dismissed a postal employee's Title VII suit because she filed in federal court before completing the required administrative process.
“a condition to the waiver of sovereign immunity”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“On that basis, the motion to suppress as supplemented must be DENIED.”
“With that in mind, the motion to dismiss is DENIED.”
“PCH’s motion is granted to the extent it seeks dismissal of the inherited claims, and denied insofar as it seeks dismissal with prejudice.”
“In light of the standard applicable to motions to dismiss under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), defendants’ motion at Docket No. 30 is DENIED.”
“AIG’s motion for summary judgment (Docket Nos. 178 and 179) is GRANTED, and the claims against it DISMISSED.”
“In light of the above, defendants’ motions at Docket Nos. 15 and 24 are GRANTED and the case DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“In view of the foregoing, plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction at Docket No. 39 is DENIED.”
“the FDIC’s ‘Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs’ Complaint with Prejudice’ (Docket No. 21, joined by Banco Popular at Docket No. 22) is GRANTED IN PART. To the extent the motion seeks dismissal with prejudice, the motion is DENIED.”
“plaintiffs’ ‘Motion to Oppose Removal, Requesting Remand and Imposition of Sanctions’ (Docket No. 8) is DENIED, as is ‘Defendants’ Motion Requesting Sanctions’ (Docket No. 19).”
“defendants’ request for summary judgment is GRANTED”
“the request for attorney’s fees is DENIED.”
“defendants ‘Motion to Dismiss Under Federal Rule 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) of Civil Procedure’ (Docket No. 12) is GRANTED. Plaintiffs’ federal due process claims are DISMISSED, with state claims being DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“In view of the foregoing, plaintiffs’ motion to compel is DENIED.”
“For the reasons explained below, defendant’s motion is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- An active district judge with a large mixed civil and criminal docket.
- Recent civil filings assigned to him span diversity foreclosure and contract actions, civil-rights and Section 1983 suits, state and general habeas petitions, employment-discrimination and ADA claims, and Social Security appeals, alongside a steady criminal docket.
- The 2019 filing cohort was dominated by mortgage-foreclosure diversity cases.
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 | 0 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 3 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 1 | 3 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 3 |
| Mar 2025 | 2 | 3 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 5 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 6 |
| Sep 2023 | 3 | 3 |
| Mar 2023 | 3 | 2 |
| Sep 2022 | 3 | 6 |
| Mar 2022 | 4 | 4 |
| Sep 2021 | 6 | 3 |
| Mar 2021 | 3 | 3 |
| Sep 2020 | 3 | 3 |
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 Delgado-Hernández: 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).
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