Mark L. Hornsby
How Judge Hornsby decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On removal, he applies the strict 'unequivocally clear and certain' standard before an 'other paper' starts the 30-day clock -- a defendant is not penalized for failing to remove on ambiguous early discovery, but the clock runs once a document makes >$75k unmistakable.
“Whatever the form of the other paper, it does not trigger the removal period ... unless 'the information supporting removal' in the paper is 'unequivocally clear and certain' that the facts now support removal.”
Rigorous on PLRA exhaustion: a prisoner suit filed before the two-step Louisiana DOC ARP is complete is dismissed (with prejudice to IFP refiling), per Woodford v. Ngo proper-exhaustion.
“Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 24) is granted and Plaintiffs complaint dismissed with prejudice to its refiling in forma pauperis.”
Procedural preferences
Will recommend granting habeas relief where the merits warrant -- not a rubber stamp for the State; he vacated a conviction and life habitual-offender sentence and ordered release-or-retry.
“It is recommended, for the reasons that follow, that the petition be granted.”
Cautions
Post-removal attempts to add a non-diverse defendant to force remand are denied -- frame the original pleading and joinder strategy before removal, not after.
“IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff's Motion to Remand (Doc. 8) and Motion for Leave to File Amended Complaint (Doc. 9) are denied.”
Motion outcomes
Counted from classified signed orders only. Percentages are shown only where the sample is large enough to be meaningful; smaller samples are reported as raw counts.
| Motions to remand N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motion for leave to amend N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Habeas petition N = 1 |
Granted: 1 | counts only |
| Preliminary injunction N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Summary judgment N = 1 |
Granted: 1 | counts only |
A "1 of 1" is one ruling, not a tendency. Treat small samples as illustrative, not predictive.
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff's Motion to Remand (Doc. 8) and Motion for Leave to File Amended Complaint (Doc. 9) are denied.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff's ... Motion for Leave to File Amended Complaint (Doc. 9) [is] denied.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the petition for writ of habeas corpus is granted as follows: Petitioner's conviction, and related enhanced sentence, for possession of Schedule II CDS (cocaine) is vacated and set aside. The State of Louisiana is ordered to release Petitioner from custody based on that conviction unless the State grants Petitioner a new trial within 120 days from the date this judgment is signed.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiffs Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Doc. 17) is denied.”
“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 24) is granted and Plaintiffs complaint dismissed with prejudice to its refiling in forma pauperis.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 435 days (N = 15).