W.D.N.Y. General Order No. 168 — Dispositive Referrals of Social Security Appeals to United States Magistrate Judges
A published court requirement that applies in New York. Category: Standing Orders. Verified against the official source (W.D.N.Y. — Standing Orders and District Plans (U.S. District Court, Western District of New York)) on November 7, 2026.
Summary
General Order No. 168 — Dispositive Referrals of Social Security Appeals to United States Magistrate Judges: the court's own order as its Standing Orders and District Plans page lists it, verbatim from the official PDF (sha-custodied), the whole document. Court-level requirement: governs practice in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York alongside the Local Rules, the federal rules and any judge-specific procedures.
Requirement
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK ________________________________________ DISPOSITIVE REFERRALS OF SOCIAL SECURITY APPEALS TO UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE ________________________________________ GENERAL ORDER No. 168 WHEREAS, on April 25, 2018, this Court adopted a Social Security Plan (“the Plan”) that applies to all civil actions commenced under the Social Security Act by an individual seeking judicial review of a final administrative decision of the Commissioner of Social Security (“the Commissioner”) pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) (“Social Security appeals”), which went into effect on July 1, 2018, and was continued in effect on January 1, 2021; WHEREAS, pursuant to the Plan, a single district-wide pool of Social Security appeals has been created to which all Social Security appeals are assigned upon filing and from which they are periodically reassigned to U.S. District Judges and U.S. Magistrate Judges, including active and senior/recall Judges, depending on whether the parties have consented to a U.S. Magistrate Judge’s exercise of jurisdiction to handle all proceedings, including issuing a final decision, under 28 U.S.C. § 636(c); WHEREAS, following the adoption of the Plan, the United States Attorney for the Western District of New York, on behalf of the Commissioner, and a number of attorneys who represent plaintiffs in social security appeals, on behalf of their respective clients, each executed a Memorandum of Understanding pursuant to which the respective parties agreed to consent to the jurisdiction of a U.S. Magistrate Judge to handle all Social Security appeals pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(c) while reserving their respective rights to withdraw such consent upon the filing of the complaint or the Commissioner’s response to the complaint; and WHEREAS, plaintiffs represented by certain attorneys are now regularly filing their complaint and electing to withdraw their consent to Magistrate Judge jurisdiction, as is their right under the law and in accordance with the aforementioned Memoranda of Understanding; and WHEREAS, the circumstances surrounding the unprecedented number of Social Security cases filed in this District are set forth in detail in the Plan, and the Court must take steps to effectuate an efficient distribution of Social Security appeals among the judges; it is hereby ORDERED, that paragraphs III(B)(2) and (B)(5) of the Plan shall be modified to the extent that in any Social Security appeal pending in this District where the parties have not consented to Magistrate Judge jurisdiction, the Chief Judge of the Court may refer the matter to a U.S. Magistrate Judge for all case management and scheduling proceedings, including the preparation of a Report and Recommendation, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b); and it is further ORDERED, that any Social Security appeal so referred shall not be assigned to a U.S. District Judge at the time the referral is made; and it is further ORDERED, that upon issuance of the Report and Recommendation and the elapse of the requisite time period to file any objections to said Report and Recommendation, the case will then be assigned to the Chief Judge to take action on the Report and Recommendation in the event that no objections are filed; and it is further ORDERED, that upon issuance of the Report and Recommendation and the filing of objections to the same, any responses to said objections shall be filed within thirty (30) days of the filing of objections, and the case will be returned to the single district-wide pool of Social Security appeals and remain unassigned until a subsequent assignment in due course to a U.S. District Judge for action upon the Report and Recommendation; and it is further ORDERED, that all other provisions of the Plan not specifically modified herein shall remain in full force and effect. IT IS SO ORDERED. ELIZABETH A. WOLFORD Chief Judge United States District Court Dated: January 6, 2025 Rochester, New York
Source of truth
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK ________________________________________ DISPOSITIVE REFERRALS OF SOCIAL SECURITY APPEALS TO UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE ________________________________________ GENERAL ORDER No. 168 WHEREAS, on April 25, 2018, this Co
- Official source
- W.D.N.Y. — Standing Orders and District Plans (U.S. District Court, Western District of New York)
- Source health
- Healthy · checked November 14, 2026
- Effective date
- —
- Last verified
- November 7, 2026benchpath-nyfed-orders-2026-11-07
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