Jon A. York
How Judge York decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In a Social Security appeal with a long history of repeated agency remands, the judge treated the vocational expert's own hearing testimony as dispositive once it was read in combination with the ALJ's own residual-functional-capacity finding, rather than sending the case back a third time for the agency to resolve an ambiguity the judge found the record did not actually contain.
“Rather than expediting administrative review as the Commissioner claims, a third remand would further extend the timeline of this already lengthy case. This judge is flummoxed as to why it would take three voluntary remands to ensure that Plaintiff's claim has been properly considered.”
On a defense motion to exclude an expert whose own deposition undercut his report's conclusions, the judge treated the plaintiff's failure to respond as effectively conceding the motion, and did not require the defense to independently prove unreliability once the plaintiff let the point go unopposed.
“Judge York, citing the absence of a response and for good cause shown, excluded Prosser from making any reference at trial to an opinion that hail strikes occurred during the two-year period from 2018 to 2020.”
Procedural preferences
Faced with three unrelated cases sharing the same plaintiffs' counsel and the same pattern of missed Rule 26 disclosure deadlines despite extensions, warnings, and a prior fee award, the judge treated the repetition across cases itself as evidence of contumacious conduct that excused the usual requirement of a prior explicit warning before dismissal.
“Although the Court has not specifically warned Plaintiffs in these Orders to Compel that dismissal may be forthcoming, the Court cannot in good conscience allow this type of blatant defiance to continue.”
On a motion to compel an informal document (a medical-records release form) that was never the subject of a formal Rule 34 production request, the judge held the requesting party to the formal discovery rules even though the informal route would have been faster, while flagging that a properly framed request for the underlying records would likely succeed.
“the Court agrees with Plaintiffs. Although the Release Forms serve as the key to unlock access to Plaintiff's medical records, these forms are not the same as the actual medical records themselves.”
Cautions
A defendant's motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim does not always end a case outright: when only some counts and defendants are entitled to dismissal, the judge parses each count and defendant separately rather than resolving the whole complaint on the strongest ground alone.
“the only claims that survive the statute of limitations are vague allegations of contract interference relating to Defendant Parish.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“his motion for a preliminary injunction (D.E. 2) is DENIED AS MOOT.”
“Because Plaintiffs present no facts or law to show that the Report and Recommendation should not be adopted, the Report and Recommendation is ADOPTED in its entirety. Defendants' Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED.”
“Based on the forgoing analysis, the Magistrate Judge recommends that all of Plaintiff's claims against all Defendants be DISMISSED with prejudice.”
“the undersigned RECOMMENDS GRANTING Defendants CBP and DHS's motion to dismiss.”
“the undersigned adopted the report and recommendation on July 6, 2022 ... Judge York, in a report and recommendation entered July 10, 2023, recommended that the motion be granted and this matter be dismissed.”
Screening report and recommendation under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1915(e)(2)(B) recommended dismissal with prejudice as frivolous, a filing restriction against the pro se plaintiff, and certification that any appeal would not be in good faith; adopted without objection. The adopting order quotes the recommendation at length.
“On May 5, 2021, Magistrate Judge York granted Defendant's motion to bifurcate SCF's claim for breach of contract from those for bad faith and punitive damages.”
“As the other pending motions referred to the magistrate judge related to discovery on these claims, he denied them without prejudice.”
Report and recommendation, signed directly by Judge York, recommending sua sponte dismissal without prejudice under Rule 41(b) for the plaintiff's repeated failure to update his mailing address or respond to two show-cause orders over roughly two months, despite the court's own efforts to locate him.
“the Magistrate Judge recommends that the settlement agreement be enforced and grant both Defendants' Motions to Dismiss.”
“Because Plaintiff's 'Motion' fails to show the reasons he is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment should be denied.”
“the Court DENIES Defendants' Motion to Compel production.”
“a report recommending that the Court deny the Commissioner's opposed motion to remand for additional administrative proceedings pursuant to sentence four of section 205(g), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 405(g), reverse the final decision of the Commissioner, and award benefits to the claimant.”
“Judge York, citing the absence of a response and for good cause shown, excluded Prosser from making any reference at trial to an opinion that hail strikes occurred during the two-year period from 2018 to 2020.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
York's consent docket is dominated by Social Security disability appeals and also includes premises-liability, civil-rights, insurance-coverage, and contract matters. He issues recommendations in cases referred by district judges and handles criminal-duty matters such as initial appearances, search-warrant applications, and petty offenses.
Put Judge York's record to work
Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge York actually rules, not a generic AI guess.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge York's own signed orders and cites them.