L-R Judge William Zloch, Judge Kenneth Marra and Judge James Lawrence King.

Three South Florida federal judges made a national list of shame for leaving motions pending for more than six months.

All three are senior judges — James Lawrence King in Miami, Kenneth Marra in Fort Lauderdale and William Zloch in Fort Lauderdale— and their slow-moving cases for the most part hit a level of high complexity, including a challenge to the constitutionality of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The latest report on slow-moving motions was issued by the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts in compliance with the Civil Justice Reform Act based on the status of motions last March 31. While most of the issues were resolved as recently as Dec. 2, several cases remain active.

Zloch led in South Florida with a total of 10 lingering motions in four cases, followed by Marra with seven motions in three cases and King with two motions in one case.

Where explanations were offered, Zloch cited "complexity of case" for his ruling delays, Marra noted a "heavy criminal & civil caseload," and King said he had "referred to magistrate judge."

The most notable case before Zloch involves the Broward Bulldog Inc.'s challenge to FBI redactions to a 9/11 Review Commission report on links between the hijackers and a Saudi Arabian family in Sarasota that hurriedly left the United States two weeks before the attacks.

Pressed by the Justice Department, Zloch issued an order granting the FBI's request for summary judgment Aug. 22 and issued final judgment Sept. 26.

Although the federal government ultimately prevailed, Broward Bulldog attorney Thomas Julin of Gunster in Miami asked in November for $522,372 in attorney fees for work since 2012 based on the FBI's release of a small number of redacted documents and a requirement to disclose more. The FBI opposes any fee award, and the motion is pending.

"Don't be too hard on Judge Zloch," Julin said Tuesday. "He did a very lengthy, very comprehensive ruling dealing with what I thought were very difficult, very complex subjects. I would not fault him very much for delay."

As part of the analysis, the judge reviewed 80,000 pages of classified documents in camera after the FBI installed a safe in his chambers that was secure enough for the task, Julin said.

In an unusually prolonged case before Zloch, a Broward County man sued a Pennsylvania-based debt collector in 2012 for violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act after receiving at least 50 and probably more than 10 prerecorded collections calls intended for someone else on his cellphone.

Within months, Commonwealth Financial Systems Inc. doing business as Northeast Credit & Collection failed to hire an attorney and lost a default judgment requiring payment of $25,000 plus interest. The plaintiff filed a motion for contempt in 2017 for failure to pay and repeatedly reminded the judge it was pending — until he reported last June that the judgment had been paid.

U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg took over one of Zloch's cases, a civil rights claim filed by a Palm Beach sheriff's inmate who said he was attacked by a fellow inmate with a homemade knife and scalding water. The new judge denied a defense motion to dismiss Dec. 2.

Zloch reassigned a fraud case in May against Wellington-based Oakland Ventures LLC to U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick Hunt for trial. A Connecticut buyer of a $400,000 equestrian jumper claimed the seller failed to disclose surgery on the horse before sale. Discovery was extended Monday.

In Marra's cases, he refused in November to reconsider Ocwen Financial Corp. Inc.'s motion to dismiss the CFPB complaint after the Trump administration agreed with the mortgage servicing company's challenge to the bureau's constitutionality. The judge consolidated cases filed by the CFPB and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation In December alleging widespread failures in Ocwen's servicing system.

In a whistleblower retaliation case, Marra issued summary judgment for the former Tyco International PLC in September after an employee in 2016 alleged securities violations by the $17 billion publicly traded company. With the lawsuit claiming Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley violations, the judge noted he researched the "intricacies of complex financial reporting processes and responsibilities" when faced with a lawsuit lacking explanatory help from the parties.

In a Family Medical Leave Act retaliation case against Florida Crystals Corp., Marra issued partial summary judgment in May and dismissed the case in September based on a settlement. An executive secretary with debilitating gastritis claimed constructive discharge after receiving an unsatisfactory evaluation for dependability after taking 23 sick days covered by company benefits in the previous year.

King made the list for failing to rule on a Customs and Immigration Service motion for summary judgment in the case of a Bangladeshi man who was granted asylum in 2013 but denied permanent residency based on his ties to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which had been designated a terrorist group.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Becerra issued a report and recommendation favoring the agency May 16, and King approved it June 28 to end the case.

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