Mary Alice Theiler
How Judge Theiler rules, drawn from 27 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Theiler
Mary Alice Theiler is a recalled United States Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Washington. She began full-time service in April 2003 and continued on recall after April 2021. She earned a B.A. from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from Wayne State University Law School.
Judge Theiler's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Theiler'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).
- Amended Procedures for the Filing, Service, and Management of Highly Sensitive Documents ↗
- Materials Related to Cooperation ↗
- Exhibit Retention Procedures ↗
- Availability and Redaction Policies for Electronically Filed Transcripts ↗
- Social Security Cases ↗
- Immigration Habeas Petitions Under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 ↗
- Amended Provisions for Electronic Case Filing ↗
How Judge Theiler decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Roberts v. Berryhill, Theiler reversed the Commissioner's decision in a consent Social Security appeal and remanded for additional administrative proceedings.
“ORDER RE: SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY APPEAL by Hon. Mary Alice Theiler. The Commissioner's decision is REVERSED and the matter is REMANDED for additional administrative proceedings.”
In Stein v. Quinn, she recommended dismissing a prisoner's civil-rights action without prejudice under Younger abstention. The district judge agreed Younger applied but remanded for her to consider whether the damages claim should instead be stayed.
“On August 22, 2006, Judge Theiler recommended that Plaintiff’s action be dismissed without prejudice pursuant to the Younger abstention doctrine. Although the Court agrees that Younger applies to Plaintiff’s case, the Court finds that Gilbertson v. Albright requires a stay, rather than a dismissal, of section 1983 damages claims that implicate Younger. Therefore, the Court ADOPTS in part the Report and Recommendation and REMANDS this matter to Judge Theiler to consider whether this action should proceed or be stayed.”
Procedural preferences
In Kinney v. Berryhill, Theiler directed the plaintiff to refile the opening and reply briefs because local counsel had not signed them as required by the court's local rule. The court later remanded the Social Security appeal for further proceedings.
“ORDER directing plaintiff to REFILE 15 Brief - Opening filed by Alicia Marie Kinney, and 17 Brief - Reply filed by Alicia Marie Kinney. Per LCR 83.1(d)(2), all motions and other filings must be signed by local counsel.”
In Skinner v. Commissioner of Social Security, she granted the Commissioner's unopposed request to amend the briefing schedule, set new response and reply deadlines, and warned that further extensions would require extraordinary circumstances.
“No additional extensions of defendant's responsive brief nor plaintiff's optional reply brief will be granted absent a showing of extraordinary circumstances.”
Cautions
In a prisoner civil-rights and Federal Tort Claims Act suit she handled as a referral magistrate, her Report and Recommendation was adopted with two modifications by the presiding district judge: on the FTCA claim, the district judge granted leave to amend rather than dismissing outright once the plaintiff showed later exhaustion, and the district judge declined to adopt her analysis of an unsettled Bivens Free Exercise Clause theory. A reminder that even a generally-adopted recommendation can be modified on close or evolving legal questions. Skurdal v. Federal Detention Center, 2:12-cv-00706 (2013-07-29).
“the Court adopts the Report and Recommendation with two modifications. ... the Court declines to adopt Part III(D)(3)(a) of the Report and Recommendation.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“ORDER RE: SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY APPEAL by Hon. Mary Alice Theiler. The Commissioner's decision is REVERSED and the matter is REMANDED for additional administrative proceedings.”
“JUDGMENT BY COURT; By Order of the Court, the decision of the Commissioner is AFFIRMED.”
“JUDGMENT BY COURT; By Order of the Court, this case is REMANDED for further administrative proceedings.”
“JUDGMENT BY COURT: By Order of the Court, this case is REMANDED for further administrative proceedings.”
“JUDGMENT BY COURT; By Order of the Court, this case is REMANDED for further administrative proceedings.”
“JUDGMENT BY COURT: By Order of the Court, the decision of the Commissioner is AFFIRMED.”
“Having considered the ALJ's decision, the administrative record (AR), and all memoranda of record, this matter is REVERSED and REMANDED for further proceedings.”
“Having considered the ALJ's decision, the administrative record (AR), and all memoranda of record, this matter is AFFIRMED.”
“be REVERSED and REMANDED to the Commissioner of Social Security”
“Having considered the ALJ's decision, the administrative record (AR), and all memoranda of record, this matter is AFFIRMED.”
“Having considered the ALJ's decision, the administrative record (AR), and all memoranda of record, this matter is REVERSED and REMANDED for further administrative proceedings.”
“Based on the stipulation of the parties, it is hereby ORDERED that the above-captioned case be reversed and remanded, pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), for further administrative proceedings.”
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 U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington (Seattle), not for Judge Theiler: 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 | 2,877 | 6 months |
| Closed with no court action | 684 | 3.4 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 2,159 | 6.7 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 10 | 27.7 months |
| Closed during trial | 24 | 25.2 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 2,877 | 6 months |
| Sep 2024 | 2,639 | 6.5 months |
| Sep 2023 | 2,594 | 6.4 months |
| Sep 2022 | 2,303 | 7.3 months |
| Sep 2021 | 2,703 | 8.7 months |
| Sep 2020 | 2,340 | 7.2 months |
| Sep 2019 | 2,536 | 7.6 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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