Denzil Price Marshall Jr.
How Judge Marshall rules, drawn from 16 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Marshall
Denzil Price Marshall, Jr. is a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Judge Marshall received a commission on May 6, 2010.
Judge Marshall's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Marshall'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).
How Judge Marshall decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
In Ellis v. State of Arkansas, he denied an early summary judgment motion as premature while motions to dismiss and possible discovery remained outstanding.
“The Ellises' motion for summary judgment, Doc. 73, is denied as premature. The motions to dismiss must be dealt with first, and then any needed discovery, if this case moves forward.”
In credit-reporting litigation, distinguishes between duties that lack a private action and the post-dispute investigation duty that consumers may enforce, while treating overlapping state-law claims as preempted.
“This Court agrees with the greater weight of authority: private suits are allowable under section 1681s-2(b).”
On rational-basis review of neutral liquor-permit limits, focuses on the statute's clarity as applied to the actual plaintiff and accepts preventing unfair competition as a legitimate state interest.
“No reasonable person in McCurry’s position could doubt his or her ineligibility for a permit under current law.”
In one wage-settlement approval, the court praised a bullet-point list of the legal sources for released claims because it clarified the release, and noted that attorney fees were negotiated separately.
“The Court applauds the bullet-point listing of the legal sources of all the released claims. Doc. 21 at 3. This way of listing promotes clarity. And the attorney's fee, though allocated in the settlement agreement, was negotiated separately.”
Cautions
In Willis, Marshall vacated his earlier judgment under Rule 60(b)(3) after an allegation that a defendant intercepted the prisoner's mailed objections. He then considered the objections and re-adopted the recommendation.
“This circumstance is solid ground for relief from the Judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(3).”
Declines to expand ERISA's carefully defined fiduciary-liability structure through respondeat superior where the alleged principal is neither a named nor functional fiduciary.
“The lesser uncertainty here is this: respondeat superior liability isn’t part of ERISA’s definition of a fiduciary.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“His motion, Doc. 97, is granted for good cause. Assuming what Willis said happened is true, one of the defendants, Chynna Thomas, intercepted his letter to the Court containing his timely objections ... This Court's Order and Judgment, Doc. 86 & 87, are therefore vacated.”
“After de novo review, the Court re-adopts Magistrate Judge Kearney's recommendation ... the record presents no disputed question of material fact for a trial. Motion for summary judgment, Doc. 59, granted. Willis's complaint will be dismissed with prejudice.”
“The Ellises' motion for summary judgment, Doc. 73, is denied as premature. The motions to dismiss must be dealt with first, and then any needed discovery, if this case moves forward.”
Standard 'Initial Order for Pro Se Plaintiffs' (rules of procedure, no right to appointed counsel in civil cases, do not file discovery requests, when documents may be sent to the Court, witness lists). It rules on no party motion but illustrates his pro se case-management practice.
“The motion for summary judgment, Doc. 25, is granted. Griffin's amended complaint will be dismissed without prejudice.”
“The ABC’s motion, No. 6, is granted. McCurry’s complaint is dismissed with prejudice.”
“Cigna’s motion to dismiss, No 69, is denied.”
“Methodist’s motion to dismiss, No 61, is granted.”
“Capital One moves to dismiss. The motion, Document No. 11, is granted in part and denied in part.”
“Childers's motion for summary judgment, Doc. 21, is denied without prejudice.”
“Bullard and Crooked Creek's renewed motion for summary judgment, Doc. 42, is granted.”
“Gann's renewed motion for summary judgment, Doc. 48, is denied.”
“The motion in limine, Doc. 51, is denied as moot.”
“Motion for partial summary judgment, Doc. 9, granted. Wardlow's Ozempic claim is dismissed without prejudice. His cataracts claim goes forward.”
“Motion to amend complaint, № 12, denied.”
“Motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis on appeal, № 16, denied.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
In the reviewed recent cases, felony criminal matters lasted about 2.4 years, while self-represented prison-condition and habeas matters often ended within a few months through screening or early dismissal. These observations do not represent the judge's full docket.
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, not for Judge Marshall: 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 | 726 | 10.4 months |
| Closed with no court action | 373 | 12.7 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 338 | 7.9 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 2 | not reported |
| Closed during trial | 13 | 30.9 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 726 | 10.4 months |
| Sep 2024 | 787 | 10.1 months |
| Sep 2023 | 995 | 12.4 months |
| Sep 2022 | 894 | 12.7 months |
| Sep 2021 | 845 | 11.2 months |
| Sep 2020 | 848 | 10.9 months |
| Sep 2019 | 878 | 10.5 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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