James David Cain Jr.
How Judge Cain rules, drawn from 26 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Cain
James David Cain, Jr. is a judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. Appointed by President Donald J. Trump, Judge Cain received a commission on June 25, 2019.
Judge Cain's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Cain, 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.
- Judge James D. Cain, Jr. ↗
- Motion for Extension of a Deadline ↗
- Letters of Reference for Criminal Sentencings ↗
- Rule 26(f) Case Management Report ↗
- Pretrial Statement ↗
- Bench Trial Scheduling Order Example ↗
- Jury Trial Scheduling Order Example ↗
Key rules
Filing
Judge Cain does not require courtesy copies.
“Judge Cain does not require any courtesy copies.”
Conferences
File a deadline-extension motion at least two business days before the deadline and give specific reasons even if unopposed.
“a motion for extension of a deadline in any matter pending before the undersigned shall be filed at least two (2) business days prior to the deadline. The moving party shall provide the undersigned the specific reasons justifying the extension, even if the motion is unopposed.”
Trial
Submit criminal sentencing reference letters and other sentencing materials at least 48 hours before sentencing.
“including letters of reference, must be provided to the Court NO LATER than 48 hours before the sentencing.”
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 Cain decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In a property insurance dispute, a clear two-year policy deadline reached statutory bad-faith claims as well as the contract claim. The insured filed more than four years after the loss, and the court dismissed the insurer from the case with prejudice.
“The Peleus policy clearly and unambiguously establishes a two-year period”
For a late insurance settlement payment, the court applied the statute governing payment of written settlements and dismissed the claim under the separate proof-of-loss penalty statute.
“persuasive and the untimely payment of settlement is controlled by the provisions of Louisiana Revised Statute § 22:1973(B)(2) and (C).”
Cautions
In the same settlement-payment case, the court let the remaining penalty claim proceed despite a post-hurricane suspension of legal deadlines. It focused on the insurer writing the checks after the payment deadline and sending them to its own counsel first.
“These were choices that Lloyd’s made which resulted in an untimely payment on the day the checks were written.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the reasons set forth hereinabove, the Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's claims against Defendant Peleus Insurance Company will be granted with prejudice.”
“the Motion to Dismiss Under FRCP 12(B)(6) (Doc. 10) will be granted in part and denied in part. The Motion will be granted to the extent that Plaintiff's claims pursuant to Louisiana Revised Statute § 22:1892 will be dismissed. Otherwise, the motion is denied.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the Motion for Summary Judgment [doc. 12] be DENIED and the Motion for Determination [doc. 20] be GRANTED.”
“Because the LPLA provided the exclusive remedies against a manufacturer of an allegedly defective product, the Court will grant Ethicon's motion for summary judgment and dismiss all claims asserted in this lawsuit that are not under the Louisiana Products Liability Act, as well as Count II, Strict Liability—manufacturing defect, and Count III, strict liability – failure to warn.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the motion for summary judgment is hereby DENIED as untimely.”
“CARC's Motion to Compel (Doc. 24) is hereby DENIED. AmGUARD is ORDERED to make its corporate representative available during the week of March 4, 2024, as stated in its opposition brief.”
“the Motion for Summary Judgment [doc. 22] will be GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. Plaintiff's breach of contract and bad faith claims arising from its business income coverage will therefore be DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the Daubert motion [doc. 29] be DENIED as to witness David Minton and DENIED AS MOOT as to witness Jacob LeBlanc.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the Report and Recommendation [doc. 9] be ADOPTED and that all claims in this matter be DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE as to the jurisdictional issues only and WITHOUT PREJUDICE as to the merits.”
“IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the instant petition be DENIED and DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the Motion to Continue [doc. 7] be DENIED and that this petition be DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that this petition be DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
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 | 30 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 14 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 32 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 30 | 32 |
| Sep 2025 | 29 | 33 |
| Mar 2025 | 18 | 30 |
| Sep 2024 | 11 | 31 |
| Mar 2024 | 20 | 49 |
| Sep 2023 | 26 | 30 |
| Mar 2023 | 4 | 31 |
| Sep 2022 | 8 | 39 |
| Mar 2022 | 8 | 33 |
| Sep 2021 | 6 | 26 |
| Mar 2021 | 12 | 17 |
| Sep 2020 | 6 | 9 |
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 Cain: 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).
Draft for Judge Cain with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Cain, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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