Both sides of his family were of Irish ancestry; they had immigrated to the United States and settled in Fitchburg after the Great Famine of Ireland.

President Bill Clinton nominated Judge Hurley to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida on November 10, 1993, to the seat vacated by James Carriger Paine.

[3] In 2018, Hurley ruled that Eric Lundgren, a California man who built a sizable business out of recycling electronic waste, had infringed upon Microsoft's products, valuing restore disks Microsoft themselves provided for free at $700,000.

[5] In an unpublished per curiam opinion issued April 11, 2018, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately affirmed Lundgren's conviction and sentence.

United States of America v. Eric Lundgren, Eleventh Circuit Case No.