Anna Elizabeth Wagner St. John
How Judge John rules, drawn from 37 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge John
Anna Elizabeth Wagner St. John is a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Appointed by President Donald J. Trump, Judge St. John received a commission on April 13, 2026.
Judge John's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge John'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 John decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Huynh v. LKM Convenience, St. John severed the plaintiff's state law claims against a nondebtor surety and remanded them to state court. She found those claims would not affect the debtor's bankruptcy estate; the claims against the debtor were referred to bankruptcy court.
“Instead, the approach that better promotes judicial economy and minimizes prejudice is for the Court to sever those claims that are not related to LKM’s bankruptcy so that the claims may proceed.”
A dismissal motion should address the operative amended complaint claim by claim; briefing directed at superseded or nonexistent claims may be denied without prejudice.
“the Motion fails to adequately address the sufficiency of the claims that are actually before the Court”
In the Wilson custodial-death case, St. John left the vicarious-liability claim tied to Officer Erwin for trial because the evidence created a fact dispute about her conduct.
“The state-law claim for vicarious liability as to Erwin, however, survives. There is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Erwin violated Thomas’s rights”
Procedural preferences
Severance is disfavored where liability proof overlaps and splitting the case would duplicate discovery, motion practice, and trial preparation.
“judicial economy weighs against severance. The parties have litigated this case jointly for more than two years and have completed discovery.”
In one default dispute, a prompt response after an administrative error, lack of prejudice, and a potentially meritorious defense supported setting aside the entry of default.
“the Court finds good cause to set aside default and allow STPSB to present its defenses.”
In the Sunland limitation action, she denied a renewed dismissal motion after finding no new evidence or controlling authority that justified revisiting an earlier pleading ruling.
“Sunland has not identified any new evidence or controlling authority that warrants a different decision, nor has Sunland shown that the earlier decision is clearly erroneous or would work manifest injustice.”
Cautions
Jurisdictional allegations for a limited-liability company must identify every member and each member's citizenship; repeating conclusions after an order to cure can result in dismissal without prejudice.
“Plaintiff has failed to establish that diversity jurisdiction exists under 28 U.S.C. § 1332.”
In one summary judgment dispute, briefing about copyright ownership did not carry the defendants’ separate motion on misrepresentation and restitution counts. Address each count for which judgment is sought.
“Defendants do not offer any legal argument directed at the counts at issue for intentional misrepresentation, payment of a thing not due, and unjust enrichment.”
When consenting to a stay, state any condition on the record. In one environmental case, an unstated expectation of settlement talks did not justify lifting the stay.
“A party’s undisclosed reason for consent to relief is not a term of the order granting it.”
In M.P. v. Lake Forest, she denied a stay pending another student’s appeal because the cases differed and the appeal might not yield a controlling ruling.
“There is no way to know whether the Fifth Circuit will resolve the appeal on the statutory question Lake Forest hopes will control this case, or instead on some threshold, procedural, or case-specific ground that never reaches the merits at all.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“IT IS ORDERED that the motion to sever claims and to abstain and remand 35 is GRANTED.”
“Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) 45 is GRANTED. All claims against Defendants Jeray Jambon Jarreau and Hillary Danos are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“For the foregoing reasons, IT IS ORDERED that the Motion to Sever34 is DENIED.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Shamrock Marine, LLC’s Motion to Dismiss13 is GRANTED. Franklin’s claims asserted on behalf of her minor child KF and the minor child MB, as pled in her own Answer and Claim, are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
St. John dismissed the action without prejudice after the plaintiff repeated conclusory citizenship allegations and failed to establish complete diversity despite an order to cure the jurisdictional pleading.
“IT IS ORDERED that Navy Federal Credit Union’s Motion to Dismiss20 is DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE to refiling a motion that addresses the claims actually asserted in Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint.”
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Motion to Suppress Evidence and Fruits of Illegal Search 104 is DENIED.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Defendants’ Joint Motion for Attorney Fees and Costs2 pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(d) and La. R.S. 51:1409(A) is DENIED.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the Motion in Limine to Deem Authentic and Admissible Business Records, as amended,15 is GRANTED.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff Malaco’s first motion for partial summary judgment 72 is GRANTED.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Defendants’ motion for reconsideration is DENIED.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the Defendants’ motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The post-appointment docket is still overwhelmingly pending, so no representative case-duration measure is reported.
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, not for Judge John: 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 | 10,411 | 79.9 months |
| Closed with no court action | 3,511 | 86.6 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 2,814 | 14.6 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 4,062 | 86.8 months |
| Closed during trial | 24 | 23.2 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 10,411 | 79.9 months |
| Sep 2024 | 6,506 | 10.7 months |
| Sep 2023 | 6,610 | 24.2 months |
| Sep 2022 | 8,635 | 69.4 months |
| Sep 2021 | 11,535 | 24.9 months |
| Sep 2020 | 16,631 | 36 months |
| Sep 2019 | 9,196 | 10.3 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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