Liam O'Grady
How Judge O'Grady rules, drawn from 6 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge O'Grady no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge O'Grady
Liam O'Grady was a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Judge O'Grady received a commission on July 11, 2007. Judge O'Grady assumed senior status on May 1, 2020 and retired on August 18, 2023.
How Judge O'Grady decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Osei's FMLA suit, O'Grady denied the employer's summary-judgment motion after finding the plaintiff eligible under a successor-in-interest analysis. He did not reach her alternative reasonable-belief theory.
“Because the Court agrees that Osei is an ‘eligible employee’ pursuant to a successor in interest analysis, the Court finds it unnecessary, and therefore declines, to address the alternate ‘reasonable belief’ theory that the plaintiff advances.”
In the ACLU's challenge to the False Claims Act seal provisions, O'Grady held that the statute temporarily limits access to a court pleading rather than government-held information and was therefore not an access statute.
“the FCA is fundamentally not an ‘access statute.’ ... they temporarily limit public access to a complaint, which is a court pleading.”
Procedural preferences
In BMG Rights Management (US) LLC v. Cox Communications, Inc., he granted the prevailing plaintiff's copyright fee request in part after reducing the proposed fees and costs. He denied the defendant's fee request because it was not a prevailing party.
“fees are not awarded as a matter of right, and courts ‘must make a ... particularized, case-by-case assessment’ when deciding whether they should be awarded.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the reasons explained below, the Court hereby grants Defendants' Motion and dismisses the complaint.”
“the Court hereby DENIES Defendant's motion for summary judgment (Dkt. No. 32) for the reasons set forth below.”
“the Court concluded that summary judgment for Defendant was appropriate and issued a short order to that effect on September 17, 2018 in recognition of the case's pending trial date. Dkt. 73.”
“Both parties filed motions for summary judgment... the Court concluded that summary judgment for Defendant was appropriate”
“BMG's motions are hereby GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.”
“Cox's motions are hereby DENIED.”
“the Court GRANTS First American Title Insurance Company's Motion for Summary Judgment (Dkt. no 44) and DENIES Western Surety Company's Motion for Summary Judgment (Dkt. no. 52).”
“ORDERED that Plaintiffs Motion for Partial Summary Judgment is DENIED.”
“Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- From the enumerated dockets (illustrative, not a counted population): O'Grady's late-career (post-senior-status, 2021-2023) E.D.
- Va. docket is dominated by short-lived pro se / IFP matters: FTCA suits against the United States (De Vere, Lazo, Treminio-Tobar, Smith), prisoner/civil-rights and habeas-adjacent filings (Washington v. DOC, Jackson v. Fleming, Samuels), Strike 3 Holdings copyright 'Doe' subpoena suits, and a few counseled commercial cases (The Motley Fool v. Cook; Autel US patent; Grounded Electrical v. Liberty Mutual; Lescalleet mortgage).
- His best-known matters (Megaupload/Dotcom, Daniel Hale leak case, BMG v. Cox) are earlier and NOT in this late-career cohort.
Pending matters in the official report
Judge O'Grady was last listed in the Civil Justice Reform Act report as of March 31, 2023.
| Motions pending more than six months | 5 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2023 | 5 | 2 |
| Sep 2022 | 10 | 3 |
| Mar 2022 | 4 | 6 |
| Sep 2021 | 5 | 2 |
| Mar 2021 | 7 | 1 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 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.
A historical record
Judge O'Grady no longer sits on this court. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.