John F. Anderson
How Judge Anderson rules, drawn from 3 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Anderson
John F. Anderson has served as a United States Magistrate Judge in the Alexandria Division of the Eastern District of Virginia since January 2008. Before joining the bench, he practiced civil litigation for more than twenty-five years, with a focus on intellectual-property disputes.
Judge Anderson's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Anderson'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).
How Judge Anderson decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Dutan's wage case, Anderson reviewed the default-judgment damages record and recommended $6,001.29 in unpaid regular and overtime wages under the FLSA.
“the undersigned recommends that a default judgment be entered in favor of plaintiff on Counts I and II in the amount of $6,001.29 in unpaid regular and overtime wages under the FLSA.”
In Scholl's Social Security appeal, Anderson granted the claimant's motion for summary judgment in part, denied the Commissioner's motion, and vacated and remanded the agency decision.
“plaintiff's motion for summary judgment (Docket no. 13) is granted in part; the Commissioner's motion for summary judgment (Docket no. 19) is denied; and the final decision of the Commissioner is vacated and remanded”
In Aisenberg, Anderson treated an insurer's categorical refusal to consider future cardiac harm from job stress as an abuse of discretion and required the administrator to engage with the claimant-specific medical evidence rather than demand a randomized controlled trial. The district judge adopted that future-risk conclusion.
“The case law and common sense indicate that it is necessary to at least take into consideration and assess the potential for future risk of harm in returning to work when making a disability determination.”
Procedural preferences
In Dutan, Anderson recommended denying default judgment on the Virginia Minimum Wage Act claim because he had already recommended FLSA recovery for the same unpaid wages.
“the undersigned magistrate judge recommends that plaintiffs motion for default judgment as to Count III be denied.”
In Safeway's labor-arbitration dispute, Anderson denied the employer's summary-judgment motion, granted the union's motion, upheld the arbitration award, and denied the union's request for attorneys' fees.
“the court denies Safeway's motion for summary judgment, grants the Union's motion for summary judgment, and upholds the arbitration award. ... The Union's request for attorneys' fees is denied.”
In ERISA review, he confined the insurer to the reasons given during the administrative process and rejected a litigation-stage pivot to a new evidentiary rationale.
“ERISA case law makes clear that defendant is limited to justifications for denial that were provided in the administrative process.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the undersigned magistrate judge recommends that a default judgment be entered in favor of plaintiff Wilson Dutan and against defendant Sheet Metal Remodeling, LLC in the amount of $24,365.54 ... the undersigned magistrate judge recommends that plaintiffs motion for default judgment as to Count III be denied.”
“plaintiff's motion for summary judgment (Docket no. 15) is denied; the Commissioner's motion for summary judgment (Docket no. 18) is granted; and the final decision of the Commissioner is affirmed.”
“the undersigned recommends that plaintiffs motion for summary judgment be granted, and defendant's motion for summary judgment be denied.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Dutan ran 174 days from filing on April 1, 2014 to termination on September 22, 2014. The reviewed consent Social Security appeals generally show filing-to-ruling intervals of roughly two to three months when both dates are available; durations are recorded with the individual motions rather than as a single cohort.
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 | 0 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 0 |
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 Eastern District of Virginia, not for Judge Anderson: 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 | 3,011 | 5.6 months |
| Closed with no court action | 1,204 | 5 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 1,299 | 4.9 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 493 | 8.9 months |
| Closed during trial | 15 | 19.3 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 3,011 | 5.6 months |
| Sep 2024 | 2,613 | 5.3 months |
| Sep 2023 | 2,194 | 6.5 months |
| Sep 2022 | 2,134 | 6.8 months |
| Sep 2021 | 2,152 | 6.5 months |
| Sep 2020 | 1,860 | 6 months |
| Sep 2019 | 2,267 | 5.9 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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