William Jerrol Crain
How Judge Crain rules, drawn from 36 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Crain
William Jerrol Crain is a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Appointed by President Donald J. Trump, Judge Crain received a commission on December 19, 2025.
Judge Crain's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Crain'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 Crain decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In a detention-medical-care case, contemporaneous records showing screening, monitoring, medication, and a good-faith effort to obtain prior records can defeat a pleaded deliberate-indifference theory when the dispute is instead over the timing or nature of treatment.
“Fontenelle’s allegations reflect, at best, disagreements over medical treatment. The complaints do not recite facts supporting proof of ‘deliberate indifference’ to his condition.”
A maritime fault-allocation doctrine does not foreclose an independently pleaded claim that a barge owner supplied an unseaworthy or defectively designed vessel.
“Because Gnots claims a design defect independent of Gnots’ navigational decisions, the dominant mind doctrine does not support summary judgment.”
In one employment case, evidence allowing a jury to question the employer’s stated reason for termination kept a family-leave retaliation claim alive at summary judgment.
“A genuine dispute of material fact exists on whether Paycom’s proffered reason for firing Engler was a pretext for FMLA retaliation.”
Procedural preferences
In a judge-tried case, challenges to an experienced expert's factual foundation are ordinarily addressed through cross-examination and the weight assigned at trial rather than pretrial exclusion.
“opinions in this judge-tried case are better directed to the weight of the evidence, not to exclusion of it.”
In one pleading dispute, an amended complaint made a dismissal motion directed only at the original complaint moot.
“Once amended, the original complaint has no legal effect.”
In one removal dispute, a specific email clarifying the amount in controversy started the thirty-day removal period; earlier discovery responses were insufficiently certain.
“not until defendants received the January 16, 2026 email from plaintiff counsel did it become certain the amount in controversy exceeded $75,000.”
Cautions
A delayed stop and furtive movement toward the passenger side can support a protective vehicle sweep when the officer connects those observations to a reasonable concern that the occupant may be concealing a weapon.
“Here, the warrantless search of Caston’s vehicle was justified under the protective-sweep exception.”
In Bates, the court dismissed a request for future injunctive relief because the plaintiff alleged no impending personal injury; alleged risks to others did not establish her standing.
“A plaintiff’s failure to show that she personally is likely to suffer a certain, impending injury defeats standing to seek prospective relief, whatever the risk to others may be.”
A request to stop construction near a pipeline failed at the preliminary injunction stage where the predicted injury was not imminent.
“The evidence failed to establish a risk of imminent harm.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“IT IS ORDERED that Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (Rec. Doc. 33) is GRANTED. Plaintiff’s claims are dismissed with prejudice.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Atalco’s Motion in Limine to Strike and Exclude Expert Ronald Campana (R. Doc. 72) is DENIED.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the Motion for Summary Judgment filed by third-party defendants Associated Marine Equipment, LLC and Associated Terminals Pangaea Logistics, LLC (R. Doc. 73) is DENIED.”
“For the foregoing reasons, IT IS ORDERED that the motion to suppress evidence is DENIED.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the Motion for Entry of Default against defendants, Seigel Select Las Vegas, Seigel Select New Orleans and Kentreal Felder, (R. Doc. 7), is DENIED.”
Crain adopted a magistrate judge's recommendation and dismissed the complaint without prejudice for improper venue and lack of personal jurisdiction. The disposition is retained as a signed order but excluded from motion statistics because it did not decide a party motion.
“Defendant’s 12(b)(1) Partial Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Standing and 12(b)(6)(6) Failure to State a Claim (Rec. Doc. 9) is GRANTED.”
“Plaintiff’s Motions for Recusal or, in the Alternative, for Relief from Referral of Magistrate Judge Janis Van Meerveld (Rec. Docs. 50 and 51) are DENIED.”
The court adopted an unobjected-to recommendation and dismissed the complaint without prejudice for failure to prosecute. The order did not decide a party motion.
The court converted a pending dismissal motion to one for summary judgment after considering video evidence and set deadlines for supplemental briefing. It did not decide the motion in this order.
“Defendant Brittany Kendrick’s Motion for Summary Judgment (R. Doc. 33) is GRANTED.”
“Defendants Equifax Information Services LLC and TransUnion LLC’s Joint Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint (R. Doc. 50) is GRANTED.”
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 | 0 |
| 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 | 0 |
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 Louisiana, not for Judge Crain: 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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