Robert A. Molloy
How Judge Molloy decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
When a defendant challenges diversity jurisdiction on the amount in controversy, the judge treats a plausible, non-frivolous claim for punitive damages as independently sufficient to clear the jurisdictional threshold, without needing to reach the plaintiff's other theories.
“Since Plaintiffs seek punitive damages, it cannot be stated to a legal certainty that the value of Plaintiffs' conversion cause of action is below the jurisdictional requirement.”
On a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, the judge is willing to let a tort-styled claim proceed past a defense theory (like the economic loss doctrine) when that theory is an affirmative defense the plaintiff need not preemptively plead around.
“The economic loss doctrine is an affirmative defense. Plaintiff is not required to plead facts that would dispel an affirmative defense.”
Procedural preferences
Facing a territorial tax scheme framed as a container tax rather than a direct import tax, the judge looked past the statute's label to its practical effect on interstate/out-of-territory commerce rather than accepting the government's formal characterization.
“the government is taxing the containers they arrive in, in an attempt to sidestep the Commerce Clause. ... the Court agrees with PSMT that, as alleged, the container tax discriminates against out-of-territory commerce”
When a party misses its deadline to respond to a properly served procedural motion and instead files its own dismissal motion, the judge does not treat the improper filing as a substitute for compliance and enforces the default consequence for the missed deadline.
“WAPA was required to file an answer to the motion within 21 days of the filing of the motion. ... WAPA failed to do so. This failure would require the Court to summarily grant the motion.”
Cautions
A dismissal for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction based on a statutory exception (like the FTCA's intentional-tort bar) does not end the case outright in this judge's practice; he pairs it with a defined window to move to amend rather than closing the file.
“Plaintiff SHALL file a motion to amend the complaint, asserting a plausible claim under the FTCA, within twenty-one (21) days of the date of entry of this Order.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“ORDERED that Defendant's Motion to Dismiss, ECF No. 12, is DENIED.”
“ORDERED that Defendant's Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint, ECF No. 22, is DENIED.”
“ORDERED that Defendants' Motion to Dismiss, ECF No. 50, is DENIED.”
“the Court will grant Plaintiff's motion seeking leave to issue execution and will deny WAPA's dismissal motion.”
“ORDERED that the United States' Motion to Dismiss the Complaint for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction, ECF No. 16, is GRANTED; it is further ORDERED that Plaintiff Nicholsen's complaint is DISMISSED without prejudice”
“The Court further finds that, to the extent comity does not compel dismissal here, plaintiff's Fourteenth Amendment claims necessarily fail as a matter of law and must be dismissed with prejudice. Finally, without any affirmative justification for deciding the remaining state law claims, those claims must also be dismissed. For all of these reasons, the Court will dismiss this matter in its entirety.”
“For the reasons stated above, the Court will deny Defendants motion to dismiss and to transfer venue. An appropriate Order follows.”
“For the reasons that follow, the Court finds that there is no federal question jurisdiction, and will grant Plaintiffs' Motion for Remand and remand this case to the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands.”
“Thus, for the reasons stated, the Defendants' motion to exclude Camilla Jensen's testimony is denied without prejudice. An accompanying order of even date will follow.”
“ORDERED that Plaintiff's motion to remand is DENIED without prejudice; it is further”
“ORDERED that Plaintiff's motion to conduct jurisdictional discovery is GRANTED. The parties SHALL be allowed to conduct jurisdictional discovery to be completed no later than December 31, 2023;”
“Because the Court finds that the citizenship of each of the defendants is diverse from the citizenship of Plaintiff, the Court determines that it has subject matter jurisdiction and will deny Plaintiff's motions to remand. An appropriate order follows.”
“Accordingly, the Court will deny STTH's motion for preliminary injunctive relief. An appropriate Order follows.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Sampled dockets included an employment wrongful-discharge suit and a motor-vehicle personal-injury diversity case; the wrongful-discharge case reached a fully documented summary-judgment ruling, while the personal-injury case's docket entries were largely scheduling and hearing orders without an available dispositive-motion text for this review.
Put Judge Molloy's record to work
Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Molloy actually rules, not a generic AI guess.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Molloy's own signed orders and cites them.