Frank Alan Little, Jr.
How Judge Little rules, drawn from 28 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Little no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Little
F. A. Little, Jr. was a judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Judge Little received a commission on October 12, 1984. Judge Little assumed senior status on May 30, 2002 and retired on May 15, 2006.
How Judge Little decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Tunica-Biloxi, Little held that the hotel land was not Indian country without a federal set-aside and granted the contractors partial summary judgment on tribal-court jurisdiction.
“Due to the lack of a set aside by the federal government, the hotel land was not Indian country at the time F.L. Crane worked on the construction project.”
In Todd, Little dismissed inmates' failure-to-warn claim about loose tobacco because he found the health risks of tobacco use commonly known.
“This knowledge extends to numerous other tobacco products and means of consuming tobacco. The dangers of tobacco use are obvious.”
Procedural preferences
In Guillot, Little denied remand after the plaintiff dropped his federal claims. He retained jurisdiction over the remaining state claims and found that the attempted remand would reward forum manipulation.
“This naked attempt at forum manipulation should not be allowed.”
In Kinsey, Little read the indemnity clause's present-tense wording as applying to work underway when the agreement was signed. He denied Farmland's summary-judgment motion and held the clause did not cover its defense costs.
“the gerundial ‘being done’ imposes a sense of present activity upon the nouns ‘construction’ and ‘maintenance work.’”
In Omar, Little granted summary judgment on the prisoner's Ramadan meal claim after finding that the delayed meals imposed only a minimal burden on his religious exercise.
“had, at most, a ... de minimis ... impact on his free exercise rights.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Accordingly, the motion to dismiss pursuant to Rules 12(b)(5) and 4(m) filed by defendants McNeil, Woods, Green, Copeland and Ayres is DENIED.”
“For the foregoing reasons, plaintiffs motion to reopen is DENIED.”
“Accordingly, plaintiffs’ Motion to Remand this action to the Ninth Judicial District Court, Parish of Rapides, State of Louisiana, is GRANTED.”
“For the following reasons, this court DENIES plaintiffs’ motion to remand.”
“Because all the Camegie-Mellon considerations recommend to this court that we exercise our discretion to retain jurisdiction over plaintiffs pendent state law claims, plaintiffs Motion to Remand is, accordingly, DENIED.”
“Thus, for the reasons given above, this court GRANTS the motion for judgment on the pleadings of Paul Ross and Dennis Kennedy.”
“Accordingly, defendant Boersma’s motion to dismiss is DENIED.”
“After elimination of the dross, duplication and puffery in the submission to this court by counselors Gladney and Coco, this court finds the total hours subject to compensation to be forty in number. The total fee approved is $3,000.”
“the [doc. no. 257] motion for partial summary judgment filed by defendants F.L. Crane & Sons, Inc. and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company is GRANTED.”
“McElroy’s motion is GRANTED. The claim for a declaratory judgment filed by plaintiff, Tunica-Biloxi Indians of Louisiana d/b/a Paragon Casino Resort, against McElroy Metal, Inc. is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“Hence, the decision of the bankruptcy court is reversed. This matter is returned to the bankruptcy court for further action not inconsistent with this opinion.”
“For these reasons, the plaintiffs motion for release of records and for a Vaughn index is DENIED.”
“The defendant’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 178 days (N = 11).
- As a district and then Chief Judge sitting in Alexandria and Lafayette (1984-2006), Little carried a general civil and criminal docket.
- The enumeration retained here is a slice of mid-1980s Lafayette-Division civil cases and a few 2004-2005 Alexandria-Division cases: by their captions a mix of maritime and oilfield personal-injury, energy-industry, insurance and contract, prisoner civil-rights and Social Security matters typical of central and south Louisiana (e.g. Lodrigue v. Regal Offshore, Gatx Leasing v. Nicklos Rig 32, Tredegar Industries v. Godchaux, Seacor Marine v. Dufrene, Jackson v. Social Security Administration).
- Nature-of-suit codes are only partly retained, so the mix is described chiefly from the captions.
A historical record
Judge Little no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.