Samuel Maurice Hicks Jr.
How Judge Hicks rules, drawn from 20 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Hicks
S. Maurice Hicks, Jr. is a judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Judge Hicks received a commission on May 21, 2003.
Judge Hicks's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Hicks, 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 S. Maurice Hicks, Jr. ↗
- Criminal Standing Order: Presentencing Memoranda ↗
- Rule 26(f) Case Management Report ↗
- Pretrial Order Form ↗
Key rules
Filing
Email and manually deliver courtesy copies of contested motions and supporting papers.
“Copies should be e-mailed to chambers at the following address: [email protected] AND manually delivered to chambers at the address above.”
Filing
File criminal presentencing memoranda under seal at least seven days before the hearing.
“all presentencing memoranda be filed under seal no later than seven days prior to the sentencing hearing.”
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 Hicks decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In an FTCA recreation-site injury suit, he denied jurisdictional dismissal after an Army Corps manual required picnic-table anchors to be free of safety hazards. The specified duty defeated the discretionary-function argument at this stage.
“Here, the Court finds the safety standards within the Engineering Manual are sufficient to remove discretion under the FTCA.”
Procedural preferences
Before entering default against state defendants, the court checked whether the plaintiff had served the state officials and offices required by federal and Louisiana law. Service on a university legal-affairs employee did not suffice.
“the record is devoid of service on the Attorney General, the head of the agency, department, or board concerned, and the Office of Risk Management.”
Cautions
In a contractor’s insurance dispute, he dismissed defense and indemnity claims after comparing the underlying petition with the policy. The petition alleged intentional dumping and refusal to remove debris, leaving no accidental occurrence under the policy.
“There is simply no reasonable way to interpret the allegations of the Fontenot/Wilder petition to include unintentional or accidental conduct.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“UPT’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Record Document 21) is GRANTED, as both Randall’s failure to accommodate claim and regarded as claim under the ADA fail as a matter of law.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Record Document 24) filed by Vivint is DENIED and the Motion for Summary Judgment (Record Document 30) filed by the City is GRANTED.”
“the Motion for Summary Judgment (Record Document 30) filed by the City is GRANTED.”
“Scottsdale’s Motion to Reconsider (Record Document 157), which seek reconsideration of the Magistrate Judge’s Order entered September 28, 2016 (Record Document 156), is DENIED.”
“Accordingly, the United States’ ‘Motion to Dismiss’ (Record Document 9) is DENIED.”
“For the reasons stated herein, Plaintiffs motion is DENIED.”
“Based on the following analysis, the Motion for Partial Dismissal is GRANTED and all of McKinley’s claims asserted under Louisiana Revised Statutes 6:333 and 9:3571 against Defendants Edward Parker and Paula Powell are dismissed with prejudice.”
“Based on the following analysis, the Motion for Partial Dismissal is GRANTED and all of McKinley’s claims against Powell asserted under Louisiana Revised Statutes 6:333 and 9:3571 are dismissed with prejudice.”
“Because the Court finds that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the Government is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, the Government’s Motion is hereby GRANTED, and Defendants’ Motion is hereby DENIED.”
“Based on the foregoing, the Motion to Dismiss filed by Arch (Record Document 25) is GRANTED.”
“All of Adams’ other § 1983 claims (including all official capacity claims against Officers Coleman and Neville) are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“Because Defendants’ Motion technically seeks dismissal of all of Adams’ claims with the exception of his excessive force claims against Officer Coleman but fails to address the similar assault and battery claims against Officer Coleman under state law, the Motion is DENIED with respect to those claims.”
“Mills’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED as to his claims against the Board and Sergeant Brook, who are hereby ordered to grant Mills a hearing on his appeal within sixty days of this ruling.”
“For the reasons stated above, the motion for summary judgment filed by the City, Chief Shaw, and Deputy Chief Huddleston is GRANTED and all of the plaintiff's claims against them are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“The motion for summary judgment filed by the Board and Sergeant Brook is DENIED.”
“EDT's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings is GRANTED as to Yor-Wic's claims for error as to cause, equitable estoppel, impossibility of performance, and False Claims Act. Thus, these claims are hereby DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“EDT's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings is DENIED as to Yor-Wic's subjective novation claim.”
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 | 3 |
| 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 | 9 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 3 | 9 |
| Sep 2025 | 3 | 12 |
| Mar 2025 | 4 | 16 |
| Sep 2024 | 37 | 20 |
| Mar 2024 | 24 | 22 |
| Sep 2023 | 19 | 27 |
| Mar 2023 | 16 | 21 |
| Sep 2022 | 7 | 25 |
| Mar 2022 | 11 | 19 |
| Sep 2021 | 13 | 20 |
| Mar 2021 | 7 | 19 |
| Sep 2020 | 3 | 14 |
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 Hicks: 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 Hicks with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Hicks, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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