Daniel P. Jordan III
How Judge Jordan decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On an ERISA-estoppel claim, the judge required more than a broken promise or years of mistakenly-paid benefits; he demanded evidence of bad faith, concealment, or fraud before finding the 'extraordinary circumstances' the doctrine requires.
“Gearlds's Complaint contains no allegations of any bad faith or intentional misconduct by Entergy. Indeed, Gearlds characterizes Entergy's conduct as 'negligent[] induce[ment].'”
In allocating tort duty between a shipper and a trucking carrier, the judge worked from the specific text of federal and state trucking regulations rather than general negligence principles, and required record evidence that a party actually undertook a voluntary duty before imposing one.
“The motor carrier industry is heavily regulated, yet all of these state and federal sources indicate that once cargo is loaded, a commercial driver has a duty to inspect, properly distribute, and secure it. None mention concurrent obligations held by the shipper.”
Faced with an unreliable expert whose design-alternative testimony kept changing at the hearing itself, the judge distinguished between an expert's admissible core opinion and speculative add-ons introduced late, rather than excluding the witness wholesale.
“Sutherland's evolving opinions regarding the fuse leaves the Court with nothing more than insufficient 'conceptualize[d] possibilities.' ... In short, Sutherland has not employed 'in the courtroom the same level of intellectual rigor that characterizes the practice of an expert in the relevant field.'”
Procedural preferences
The judge holds summary-judgment nonmovants strictly to Rule 56(c)'s citation requirement, granting a motion on a failure to cite supporting record evidence alone, without even reaching the merits of the underlying argument.
“This argument falls short for a host of reasons, beginning with Moore's failure to cite any record evidence supporting its factual basis. ... The motion can be granted on this basis alone.”
He treats a new legal theory raised for the first time in a summary-judgment response as an unpleaded claim requiring a late motion to amend, and will deny leave when the facts underlying the new theory were known to the party from the start and the case has already been fully briefed and argued.
“A claim which is not raised in the complaint, but, rather, is raised only in response to a motion for summary judgment is not properly before the court. ... Given this combination of facts, the Court concludes that leave to amend should not be extended at this late date.”
Rather than rule on an undeveloped legal question, he will deny a motion without prejudice and invite the parties to re-brief it more fully on summary judgment, especially where the case law the movant cited did not squarely resolve the issue.
“The Court acknowledges and regrets that it is essentially punting the issues back to the parties. On the other hand, any order deciding these issues would be based on arguments and authorities that the parties have not yet fully addressed.”
Cautions
On habeas and pro se prisoner filings referred to a magistrate, he adopts unopposed Reports and Recommendations promptly, and treats even an informal pro se letter as a cognizable Rule 60(b) motion rather than ignoring it.
“As set out in the Order, to the extent Keener's letter was intended as a Rule 60(b)(6) motion, it is denied.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Based on the foregoing, the Court finds that Crane and IKBI's motions to remand should be granted. Kellogg's motion to file a sur-rebuttal is granted as the Court did consider, but declined to adopt, the arguments therein stated. This case is remanded to the Circuit Court of Neshoba County, Mississippi.”
“Based on the foregoing, the Court finds that Crane and IKBI's motions to remand should be granted.”
“Based on the foregoing, the Court finds that Defendant E-Z Trench's Motion for Summary Judgment is well-taken and should be granted.”
“Entergy's Motion to Dismiss [12] is GRANTED and the Complaint is dismissed without prejudice.”
“Canal is entitled to a declaratory judgment that it has no duty to defend and no duty to indemnify under the Policy for the subject accident... the Court finds that Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment should be granted.”
“This Order protects Plaintiffs from the limited irreparable harm they have asserted, but allows Mississippi House Bill 1390 ("the Act") to take effect, at least for now... For these reasons, the motion for preliminary injunction [5] is granted in part.”
“the statute-of-limitations defense is denied without prejudice to Defendant's right to reassert the argument in a properly supported motion for summary judgment.”
“the motion is denied without prejudice. ... For the foregoing reasons, the Court finds that the motions of First American and Vanderbilt should be denied.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment [37] is granted and Plaintiff's claims are dismissed with prejudice.”
“Defendant's Motion to Allow Payment of Attorneys' Fees, Costs and Expenses from Funds Subject to Forfeiture Order [161] ... [is] denied”
“Given that the Fifth Circuit has affirmed her conviction, the Court finds that the motion is moot. Regardless, the Court would deny the request.”
“the Government's Motion for Forfeiture of Property [174] is granted.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment [23] is granted.”
“For the above stated reasons, the Court grants JSU's motion for judgment on the pleadings with respect to Counts One and Two of the Amended Complaint but denies the motion with respect to Count Three.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Chase's Motion for Summary Judgment [86] is granted.”
“Nissan's Motion for Summary Judgment [37] is therefore granted, and this action is due to be dismissed.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Jordan's docket mixes prisoner section 1983 and habeas matters (2241 and 2254), employment and personal-injury civil suits, arbitration and insurance disputes, and a substantial criminal docket, with a steady flow of new civil and criminal filings continuing through mid-2026.
Put Judge Jordan's record to work
Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Jordan actually rules, not a generic AI guess.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Jordan's own signed orders and cites them.