Ruth Miller
How Judge Miller rules, drawn from 10 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Miller no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Miller
Ruth Miller served as a United States Magistrate Judge in the St. Thomas and St. John Division of the District Court of the Virgin Islands from April 2010 until July 2024. She later returned to the court on recall.
How Judge Miller decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Solar Leasing, the court held a personal guarantor to an arbitration provision incorporated through the guaranty and resolved ambiguity about its scope in favor of arbitration.
“First, the Personal Guaranty incorporates by reference the terms of the Leasing Agreement, including the arbitration provision.”
In Coates, the court declined to compel a federal agency to produce decades-old arrest and travel records when the requesting party already had the underlying admission and the likely burden outweighed the records' marginal use.
“Thus, Ford has not shown a need for CBP’s files in the face of its objection.”
Procedural preferences
In Richards, the court denied a Rule 56(f) continuance where the requested discovery was not material to the pending summary-judgment issues and the movant did not explain a nearly six-month delay or identify facts the discovery would produce.
“Under these circumstances, she has not met the requirements under Rule 56(f).”
In Faulkner, generalized and uncorroborated allegations did not justify Section 1927 sanctions because the record did not establish willful bad faith rather than unreasonable conduct alone.
“Moreover, Section 1927 sanctions require a finding of willful bad faith, not merely a showing of objectively unreasonable conduct.”
Cautions
In Francis, the district judge adopted Miller's screening analysis but modified the recommended with-prejudice dismissal to permit amendment because futility was not yet clear.
“The Court does not find that permitting amendment in this matter would be inequitable or futile.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Magistrate Judge Miller recommends that Plaintiff Chris Carty’s (‘Plaintiff’) ‘Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction’ (Dkt. No. 5) be denied.”
“recommending that Defendant Daniel Kevin Elwell, Federal Aviation Administration (‘FAA’) Administrator’s (‘Defendant’) ‘Motion to Dismiss’ (Dkt. No. 7) be granted.”
“ORDERED that Defendants Lynn Millin Maduro and Alicia Barnes’ ‘Motion to Dismiss’ (Dkt. No. 62) is GRANTED; and it is further ORDERED that Plaintiff W. James Oelsner’s claims against all Defendants are DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.”
“Miller recommends that Jerome and Anders’ Motion be granted.”
“Magistrate Judge Miller recommended that Plaintiff Reginald Bell’s (‘Plaintiff’) pro se ‘Motion to the Court’ (‘Motion’) (Dkt. No. 11) be denied.”
Miller recommended dismissing an in forma pauperis complaint on initial screening. The district judge modified the recommendation to dismissal without prejudice and allowed an amended complaint. This was a court-initiated screening disposition, not a party motion.
“For the foregoing reasons, Smith’s Rule 56(f) motion is DENIED.”
“Accordingly, for the foregoing reasons, it is hereby ORDERED that the motion for sanctions under 28 U.S.C. § 1927 is DENIED.”
“ORDERED that Hutchinson’s ‘Motion to Compel Arbitration & for Dismissal’ [ECF 13] be GRANTED as follows: 1. Solar Leasing’s action against Hutchinson is STAYED.”
“Defendants’ motion [DE 166] to compel responses to deposition questions regarding plaintiff’s prior criminal conviction is GRANTED”
“Defendant’s motion for fees and costs under Rule 37(a)(5)(A) is DENIED.”
“it is hereby RECOMMENDED: 1. that default be entered against Nilson C. Perez”
“2. that the ‘Motion for Default Judgement [sic] as Per Rule 12(a)(1)(A)(i)’ [ECF 32] and ‘Motion to Amend 10/16/14 Motion (DE 32) For Default Judgement [sic] ... to Include FRCP Rules 55 and 4’ [ECF 37] be DENIED.”
“Accordingly, the premises considered, it is ORDERED that the motion to compel CBP to comply with Ford’s subpoena [ECF 289] is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- The sampled dockets Miller was assigned or referred to span marine/admiralty contract and personal-injury disputes, mortgage-foreclosure actions, and a consent-jurisdiction breach-of-contract putative class action, consistent with the St. Thomas/St. John division's maritime- and financial-institution-heavy civil docket.
- Several older sampled dockets (2011-2015) returned no retained entry text in the record, typical of this court's older filings; the groundable motion history in this record is concentrated in cases from 2019 onward, including two full-consent (28 U.S.C. 636(c)) civil cases she presided over through final judgment or settlement.
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 | 7 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 10 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 15 | 1 |
| Sep 2022 | 19 | 2 |
| Mar 2022 | 10 | 1 |
| Sep 2021 | 11 | 3 |
| Mar 2021 | 23 | 0 |
| Sep 2020 | 12 | 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.
A historical record
Judge Miller 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.