James Maxwell Moody Jr.
How Judge Moody rules, drawn from 22 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Moody
James Maxwell Moody, Jr. is a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Judge Moody received a commission on March 10, 2014.
Judge Moody's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Moody'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 Moody decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Williams v. United States, he held that the veteran’s claims arising from denial of authorization for community care were benefits disputes outside the district court’s tort jurisdiction, rather than claims about negligent medical treatment.
“Both counts stem from the Secretary’s decision to deny Plaintiff benefits pursuant to the Mission Act. Neither involves a negligent medical decision or action.”
Procedural preferences
In Wilkes v. AmeriSave Mortgage, Moody denied an ex parte temporary restraining order because the plaintiff’s conclusory notice statement did not justify proceeding before the defendants could respond.
“to obtain a temporary restraining order before the opposing parties have notice and opportunity to respond requires the movant to certify what efforts were made to give notice and to explain the reasons why it should not be required.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“In conclusion, the Estate's motion for summary judgment (ECF No. 14) is DENIED.”
“The Court finds that the Estate's motion for voluntary dismissal is DENIED and the Defendant's motion for summary judgment of the fraudulent transfer allegation is GRANTED. ... Defendant's motion for partial summary judgment (ECF No. 40) is GRANTED.”
“Defendant's motion for summary judgment (ECF No. 100) and cross motion for summary judgment (ECF No. 84) are DENIED as they relate to the breach of contract claim. ... there are genuine issues of material fact remaining which must be decided by a jury.”
“Plaintiff's motion for voluntary dismissal (ECF No. 97) is DENIED. ... the Defendant filed a motion for summary judgment of the fraudulent transfer claim five months before the Estate filed the motion for voluntary dismissal ... and the Estate has failed to provide any explanation for the dismissal.”
“Defendant's motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(7) is DENIED. ... The Court finds that Har-Ber is not a required or indispensable party to any of Plaintiff's claims under Rule 19. Therefore, as master of her complaint, Plaintiff cannot be forced to sue a party that she does not want to sue.”
“IT IS ORDERED, that the Parties' Motion is GRANTED. ... The parties' Settlement Agreement is approved as a fair and reasonable resolution of a bona fide dispute over wages owed under the Fair Labor Standards Act”
“Defendant's motion for summary judgment (ECF No. 16) is GRANTED.”
“The motion in limine (ECF No. 35) is MOOT.”
“The Joint Motion to Dismiss filed by all Defendants (ECF No. 37) is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.”
“Optum's motion to dismiss is denied.”
“Plaintiffs' motion in limine for admission of the '020 ('Ripening Chamber') and '325 ('Camera Box') patents ... is DENIED.”
“Plaintiffs' motion to compel responses to requests for admissions (ECF No. 676) is DENIED.”
“Crary=s motion to dismiss (ECF No. 21) and Rexroth's motion to dismiss (ECF No. 4) are GRANTED. Crary Industries, Inc. and Bosch Rexroth Corporation are dismissed without prejudice.”
“The Foundation's motion to dismiss (Dkt. No. 21) is GRANTED as to the conversion and unjust enrichment claims and DENIED as to all other claims.”
“That motion is denied without prejudice.”
“Plaintiff's Motion to Remand (doc. No. 13) are DENIED.”
“the Court finds that Plaintiff has not established good cause for expediting discovery. Both Plaintiff's Motion to Expedite Discovery (Doc. No. 12) ... are DENIED.”
“Accordingly, Defendants' Motion for summary judgment is denied.”
“Mount Vernon's motion for partial summary judgment is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Among the reviewed matters, the contested commercial case lasted about 1.6 years before reaching a trial-ready posture, while prison-condition, habeas, and short personal-injury matters often ended within about two to eleven months through screening, early dismissal, or settlement. These observations do not describe the full docket.
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 | 3 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 3 | 3 |
| Sep 2025 | 1 | 2 |
| Mar 2025 | 9 | 3 |
| Sep 2024 | 10 | 3 |
| Mar 2024 | 9 | 3 |
| Sep 2023 | 3 | 4 |
| Mar 2023 | 5 | 6 |
| Sep 2022 | 3 | 10 |
| Mar 2022 | 9 | 4 |
| Sep 2021 | 13 | 5 |
| Mar 2021 | 8 | 8 |
| Sep 2020 | 7 | 5 |
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 United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, not for Judge Moody: 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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