Lance M. Africk
How Judge Africk rules, drawn from 17 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
How Judge Africk decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
When a signed arbitration agreement delegated questions of arbitrability and the opposing party did not specifically challenge the delegation clause, Africk enforced the delegation and stayed the related litigation pending arbitration.
“Because plaintiff’s arguments do not ‘attack the existence of a contract between the parties, the existence of an agreement to arbitrate between the parties, or the validity of the delegation clause,’ Wealth Assistants LLC, 2024 WL 2980812, at *7 , the Court honors the agreement to delegate and compels plaintiff’s arguments to arbitration, Arnold, 890 F.3d at 554.”
He treats contract formation as a threshold judicial question and requires evidence of assent before compelling arbitration; in Aleman, the purported signer had died before the contract date and the movant produced no evidence that the plaintiff accepted the agreement.
“First, the signature on the contract is not plaintiff’s and it cannot be her husband’s because he died almost two months before the contract was signed. BMS implies that the contract was signed by someone else on Donald Aleman’s behalf, but it produces no evidence to substantiate this claim.”
Cautions
In a LifeVest product-liability case involving a federally approved Class III medical device, Africk dismissed an amended complaint with prejudice where the parallel state-law theories were preempted or lacked specific supporting facts.
“FURTHER ORDERED that Zoll's 27 Motion to Dismiss plaintiffs' complaint is GRANTED and plaintiffs' complaint is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“IT IS ORDERED that the Hospitals' motion for summary judgment is GRANTED and the FTC's claims against the Hospitals are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the State's motion for summary judgment is GRANTED, and the State's motion for judgment on the pleadings is DISMISSED AS MOOT.”
“the State's motion for judgment on the pleadings is DISMISSED AS MOOT.”
“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the FTC's motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the motion for summary judgment is GRANTED and Alizadeh's claims are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Horizon's motion to dismiss is DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE. Horizon may reurge this motion once an amended counterclaim has been filed or may file a motion for summary judgment when the record has become more developed.”
“IT IS ORDERED that defendant's motion to dismiss is GRANTED and plaintiff's complaint is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Rule 12(b)(7) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Fobb and Collection's motion to dismiss is GRANTED and that the claims against Fobb and Collection in the above-captioned case are DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Cambre's motion to remand is GRANTED. The above-captioned matter is REMANDED to the Twenty-Third Judicial District Court for the Parish of St. James, State of Louisiana.”
“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Cambre's request for attorney's fees and costs is DENIED.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Green Coast's motion to remand is DENIED.”
“IT IS ORDERED that defendants' motion for partial summary judgment is DENIED.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the motion to vacate or for reconsideration is DENIED.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the motion to amend the scheduling order is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Fieldwood's motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”
“IT IS ORDERED that plaintiff's motion to remand is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median motion-to-ruling time: 35 days (N = 1).
- From the enumerated 2024 cases plus the targeted lookup: a broad New Orleans civil/criminal docket: maritime/marine personal injury (Jones Act, 28:1333/28:1332), product-liability diversity (Zimmer Biomet), motor-vehicle and insurance diversity suits (National Interstate, Nautilus), Section 1983 civil-rights and prisoner civil-rights suits, Section 2254 state habeas, retail premises injury (Old Navy), Deepwater Horizon BELO toxic-tort, and criminal matters.
- NOS examples captured below.
Draft for Judge Africk with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Africk, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
Opens in Ezel Pro.
- Grounded in Judge Africk's own signed orders
- Cites every source it relies on, so you can verify it
- Chat, drafting and research in one workspace