Silvia L. Carreno-Coll
How Judge Carreno-Coll rules, drawn from 23 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Carreno-Coll
Silvia Luisa Carreño-Coll is a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. Appointed by President Donald J. Trump, Judge Carreño-Coll received a commission on February 26, 2020.
Judge Carreno-Coll's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Carreno-Coll's own (checked October 9, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
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 Carreno-Coll decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Peterson v. Municipality of Luquillo, Carreño-Coll granted the municipality summary judgment because the plaintiffs' notice letters were late and omitted information required by Puerto Rico's Municipal Code. She found that a third party's letter did not notify the municipality of the plaintiffs' accident or damages.
“Therefore, the Court finds that the Plaintiffs failed to comply with the Municipal Code’s notice requirement and none of the exceptions that would render their letters to the Municipality as timely apply.”
Procedural preferences
In Machado-Mariscal v. Bayamón Medical Center, Carreño-Coll granted the defendant time for discovery before requiring it to oppose an early summary judgment motion, finding that it had shown good cause, utility, and materiality under Rule 56(d).
“BMCC has satisfied Rule 56(d)’s requirements. We therefore grant its motion to allow it time to take discovery before responding to Dr. Machado-Mariscal’s motion for summary judgment.”
Cautions
In Soto-Santini v. Commonwealth, Carreño-Coll dismissed the case without prejudice under Rule 41(b) after the plaintiff failed to comply with two court orders and properly serve the defendants, despite a warning that noncompliance could cause dismissal.
“given Plaintiff Soto-Santini’s noncompliance with the Court’s orders at Docket Nos. 20 and 28 and her failure to properly serve the Defendants in this case, the Court also finds that dismissal without prejudice is warranted as to all the Defendants in this case pursuant to Rule 41(b).”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the reasons stated herein, Defendants' Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED.”
“the Court finds that dismissal without prejudice of Plaintiff Soto-Santini's claims against PRHFA is proper pursuant to Rule 12(b)(5). ... the Court also finds that dismissal without prejudice is warranted as to all the Defendants in this case pursuant to Rule 41(b). ... this case is hereby DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“In evaluating a motion to dismiss a complaint, we 'accept all well-pleaded, non-conclusory facts set forth in the complaint as true'... We disagree and therefore deny BMCC's motion to dismiss her complaint.”
“DENIES without prejudice Dr. Machado-Mariscal's motion for summary judgment (Docket No. 13)”
“the Court hereby GRANTS the Municipality's Motion for Summary Judgment at Docket No. 74. Partial Judgment dismissing Plaintiffs' claims against the Municipality will be entered accordingly.”
“the Motions to Dismiss at Docket Numbers 44 and 46 are deemed MOOT”
“the Motion to Dismiss at Docket Number 66 is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“because both the parties' interests and Law 75's public policy weigh against a preliminary injunction, the Court DENIES JSI's motion for one (Docket No. 2).”
“the Court DENIES the defendants' motion to dismiss (Docket No. 112) and FINDS that the government has proved by a preponderance of the evidence that there is U.S. jurisdiction over the defendants' vessel under 70502(d)(1)(C) and 70502(d)'s residual category.”
“the Court GRANTS Defendant's Motion at Docket No. 59 and DISMISSES WITH PREJUDICE Plaintiff's Puerto Rico's general tort statute and Section 16 claims.”
“the Court GRANTS Plaintiff's motion to exclude Defendants' expert witness, Eng. Ng Cortinas at Docket No. 27.”
“the Court DENIES Morales-Velez's Section 2255 petition (Docket No. 1). We DENY him a certificate of appealability as well because he has not made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right.”
“the detention order is AFFIRMED and Mr. Cotto-Velazquez shall remain detained pending trial.”
“the claims against the PRDH are hereby DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE”
“therefore rendering Dr. Priester's Motion for Preliminary Injunction as MOOT”
“the claim against Dr. Ramos is STAYED”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The sampled caseload spans personal-injury, civil-rights, and federal employment-discrimination-enforcement matters, including one case resolved largely through default proceedings and another involving prolonged motion practice over a state agency's alleged constructive taking of court-held interest. Her earlier magistrate-judge docket from 2011 through 2020 is not included.
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 | 6 |
| 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 | 7 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 6 | 7 |
| Sep 2025 | 7 | 6 |
| Mar 2025 | 24 | 15 |
| Sep 2024 | 26 | 17 |
| Mar 2024 | 6 | 9 |
| Sep 2023 | 1 | 12 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 15 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 13 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 10 |
| Sep 2021 | 3 | 11 |
| Mar 2021 | 11 | 8 |
| Sep 2020 | 22 | 6 |
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 Carreno-Coll: 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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