Carol B. Whitehurst
How Judge Whitehurst rules, drawn from 18 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Whitehurst
Carol B. Whitehurst is a United States magistrate judge for the Western District of Louisiana. Appointed to the full-time position in 2015, the judge serves in the Lafayette Division.
Judge Whitehurst's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Whitehurst, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
- Magistrate Judge Carol B. Whitehurst ↗
- Rule 26(f) Case Management Report ↗
- Pretrial Order Form ↗
- Bench Trial Order Form ↗
Key rules
Filing
For her consent cases, email completed consent forms to the court’s consent mailbox; do not file them in the record.
“Completed consent forms shall be e-mailed to: [email protected] and are NOT to be filed into the record by the parties.”
Filing
Do not send courtesy copies unless directed.
“Magistrate Judge Whitehurst does not require any courtesy copies.”
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).
- General Order 0001-2025: Procedures for Access and Management of Sealed or Restricted Documents ↗
- General Order 0001-2024: Procedures for Requesting, Filing, and Management of Highly Sensitive Documents ↗
- SO 1.74 Service and Scheduling of Immigration Habeas Cases ↗
- SO 1.75 Regarding Third-Party Litigation Funding ↗
How Judge Whitehurst decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Enwonwu v. Joyce, she found the petitioner had not supplied a specific reason to believe removal was unlikely in the reasonably foreseeable future.
“Regardless, Enwonwu cannot meet his initial burden under Zadvydas. He provides no specific reason why his removal is unlikely to occur in the reasonably foreseeable future.”
In the Morein premises-liability discovery dispute, she ordered production of ordinary incident-investigation records after in camera review while protecting documents created for anticipated litigation.
“The inquiry, then, is whether a particular document was created specifically to aid in future litigation or, rather, would have been created regardless of future litigation.”
In the Avila-Soto wage case, she allowed bank-record discovery relevant to disputed joint-employer status under a protective order.
“Nevertheless, the Court finds that bank records may contain evidence relevant to the question of Sterling Sugars’ employer status,”
Cautions
Medical-treatment and other conditions-of-confinement allegations belong in a civil-rights action rather than a habeas petition, even when the requested remedy is release.
“A demand for release does not convert a conditions-of-confinement claim into a proper habeas request.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS re 28 MOTION to Dismiss For Failure to State a Claim filed by Bo Duhe, Alister Charrier. IT IS RECOMMENDED that the motion be DENIED. Signed by Magistrate Judge Carol B Whitehurst on 8/28/2024.”
“MEMORANDUM RULING AND ORDER denying 45 Motion for Leave to File Supplemental Complaint. Signed by Magistrate Judge Carol B Whitehurst on 3/9/2021.”
“MEMORANDUM ORDER granting 30 Motion to Stay. The Clerk of this Court is to administratively close this action in his records, without prejudice to the right of the parties to file a joint motion to reopen this proceeding within ten(10) days of the date of resolution of the criminal case (a verdict of not guilty has been returned or sentencing has been completed), 6:16-cr-00048, currently pending in the Western District of Louisiana, Judge Donald E. Walter presiding. Signed by Magistrate Judge Carol B Whitehurst on 4/25/16.”
“MINUTES for proceedings held before Magistrate Judge Carol B Whitehurst: denying 37 Motion for Summary Judgment; MOTION HEARING held on 6/15/2016 re 37 MOTION for Summary Judgment on Interpleader Claims Pursuant to Rule 56 F.R.C.P. filed by Anthony Louis Morgan.”
“MINUTES for proceedings held before Magistrate Judge Carol B Whitehurst: BENCH TRIAL completed on 11/3/2016. 81 ORAL Motion for Directed Verdict is DENIED. Case ruled on by the Court.”
“REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The undersigned recommends that 44 ORAL MOTION to Amend/Correct filed by Cheryl Landry, Thomas D Landry, be granted and 33 MOTION to Dismiss For Failure to State a Claim filed by NuVasive Inc be granted in part. Objections to R&R due by 10/14/2016. Signed by Magistrate Judge Carol B Whitehurst on 9/26/2016.”
“REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS re 48 MOTION to Dismiss For Failure to State a Claim Second Amending Complaint filed by NuVasive Inc. Based on the foregoing, the undersigned recommends that NuVasive, Inc.s Motion To Dismiss under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) [Rec. Doc. 48] be granted and Plaintiffs claim that the NuVasive, Inc. device is unreasonably dangerous for defective design be dismissed with prejudice for failure to state a claim. Objections to R&R due by 2/6/2017. Signed by Magistrate Judge Carol B Whitehurst on 1/20/17.”
“JUDGMENT: IT IS ORDERED 69 Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED and Plaintiffs' claims are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE as prescribed. Signed by Magistrate Judge Carol B Whitehurst on 3/14/2018.”
“REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Based on the foregoing reasons, the undersigned RECOMMENDS that 15 MOTION to Dismiss For Failure to State a Claim filed by Southwest Property Management Inc be GRANTED and that K&B's claims against Southwest Property be DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE. Objections to R&R due by 2/10/2017. Signed by Magistrate Judge Carol B Whitehurst on 1/27/2017.”
“JUDGMENT: IT IS ORDERED that the motions for summary judgment filed by Caffery-Saloom and ANICO [Rec. Docs. 54 & 57] are GRANTED and the claims asserted by K & B against Caffery-Saloom and ANICO are DENIED AND DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE. Because K & B's claims are dismissed, K & B's motion for summary judgment [Rec. Doc. 60] is DENIED AS MOOT. ANICOS's motion for attorneys' fees [Rec. Doc. 55] is DENIED. Signed by Magistrate Judge Carol B Whitehurst on 5/18/2018.”
“Because K & B's claims are dismissed, K & B's motion for summary judgment [Rec. Doc. 60] is DENIED AS MOOT.”
“ANICOS's motion for attorneys' fees [Rec. Doc. 55] is DENIED.”
“MEMORANDUM RULING re 21 MOTION for Summary Judgment filed by David Chaisson, 19 MOTION for Summary Judgment filed by Pellerin & Sons Inc. Considering the foregoing, the Court finds there are no issues of material fact with respect to the plaintiff's claims alleged under both the FLSA and the LWPA, and PSI is entitled to summary judgment on both claims. Signed by Magistrate Judge Carol B Whitehurst on 11/25/2019.”
“Considering the foregoing, the Court finds there are no issues of material fact with respect to the plaintiff's claims alleged under both the FLSA and the LWPA, and PSI is entitled to summary judgment on both claims.”
“MEMORANDUM RULING: For the foregoing reasons, 31 MOTION for Summary Judgment filed by Epic Diving & Marine Services L L C will be denied as to the issues of Jones Act negligence and unseaworthiness. Signed by Magistrate Judge Carol B Whitehurst on 9/6/2019.”
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 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 1 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2020 | 2 | 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 Western District of Louisiana, not for Judge Whitehurst: 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 | 1,541 | 13.4 months |
| Closed with no court action | 287 | 8.9 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 832 | 13.2 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 398 | 16.1 months |
| Closed during trial | 24 | 27.6 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 1,541 | 13.4 months |
| Sep 2024 | 3,194 | 16.5 months |
| Sep 2023 | 3,966 | 10.5 months |
| Sep 2022 | 3,186 | 8.8 months |
| Sep 2021 | 1,330 | 8.6 months |
| Sep 2020 | 1,064 | 11.3 months |
| Sep 2019 | 1,190 | 11.5 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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Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Whitehurst, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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