F. Keith Ball
How Judge Ball rules, drawn from 12 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Ball no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Ball
F. Keith Ball served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi from 2010 until his retirement in February 2024. He earned undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Mississippi and spent nearly two decades in private litigation practice before taking the bench.
How Judge Ball decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
In a Social Security appeal, he found that the ALJ cherry-picked and mischaracterized two opinions.
“The ALJ was able to arrive at her conclusion only by cherry-picking from and mischaracterizing the opinions of Ms. Thornton and Dr. Lott.”
In a Social Security appeal, he agreed that the ALJ had rejected a treating physician's opinion without good cause or the analysis Newton required.
“the ALJ erred in rejecting the opinion of Dr. Collins without good cause and without providing the detailed analysis required by Newton v. Apfel... The Court agrees.”
Cautions
In Easterling v. Doe, he denied a group of pending motions in one order, including requests for counsel, discovery, preliminary relief, amendment, and summary judgment.
“ORDER denying 33 Motion to Appoint Counsel ; denying 17 Motion to Compel; denying 18 Motion for Discovery; denying 19 Motion ; denying 20 Motion for Order to Show Cause; denying 20 Motion for Preliminary Injunction; denying 20 Motion for TRO; denying 21 Motion to Amend/Correct; denying 22 Motion for Summary Judgment.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The ALJ was able to arrive at her conclusion only by cherry-picking from and mischaracterizing the opinions of Ms. Thornton and Dr. Lott... Accordingly, this matter is hereby remanded to the Commissioner for proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
“the undersigned finds that the Commissioner's decision should be reversed and remanded for further consideration. Accordingly, Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment [14] is granted in part and denied in part.”
“Having considered the memoranda of the parties and the administrative record, the Court concludes that the decision of the Commissioner should be reversed and this matter remanded to the Commissioner.”
“For the reasons discussed in this Memorandum Opinion and Order, the undersigned finds that the Commissioner's decision should be affirmed.”
“In support of remand, Harris argues that the ALJ erred in rejecting the opinion of Dr. Collins without good cause and without providing the detailed analysis required by Newton v. Apfel... The Court agrees... For these reasons, this matter is hereby remanded to the Commissioner.”
“Defendant’s Motion to Affirm Commissioner’s Decision [14] should be granted”
“For these reasons, the Court concludes that the decision of the Commissioner is supported by substantial evidence and that no reversible errors of law were made. Accordingly, the decision is affirmed.”
“MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER denying 16 Motion to Remand. The Commissioner's decision is upheld, and this case is dismissed with prejudice. Signed by Magistrate Judge F. Keith Ball on 3/12/18.”
“ORDER, The decision of the Commissioner is reversed, and this matter is remanded for proceedings consistent with this opinion. A separate judgment will be entered. Signed by Magistrate Judge F. Keith Ball on 3/1/2019.”
“Having considered these grounds for relief and having carefully reviewed the petition, the response, Perryman's reply, and the state court record, the undersigned recommends that habeas relief be denied.”
“JUDGMENT as to Partridge-Sibley Industrial Services, Inc. (1), Count(s) 1, Defendant organization sentenced to 1 year probation term, $200,000 fine and $125 special assessment both due immediately. Signed by Magistrate Judge F. Keith Ball on 2/17/23”
“Oral Order granting [] Motion to Dismiss Counts 2-10 as to Partridge-Sibley Industrial Services, Inc. (1). No further written order shall issue from the Court. Signed by Magistrate Judge F. Keith Ball on 1/11/2023.”
“JUDGMENT as to Bridgett Veronica Medlock (1), Count(s) 1, 6 months imprisonment, 1 year supervised release, $25.00 special assessment and $1500.00 fine. Signed by Magistrate Judge F. Keith Ball on 12/2/13”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- Judge Ball's docket at Jackson (3:xx case numbers, with Hattiesburg-area 2:xx, Natchez-area 5:xx, and Meridian-area 1:xx and 4:xx matters also referred to him) was dominated by three veins over his fourteen years on the bench: (1) a substantial consent-jurisdiction Social Security disability-appeal caseload he decided by his own final Memorandum Opinion and Order; (2) prisoner civil-rights suits and habeas corpus petitions referred to him by the district's Article III judges, many of which the parties later consented to have him decide to final judgment; and (3) criminal-magistrate duties on the district's felony and misdemeanor docket, including detention hearings, initial appearances, and, where a defendant or corporate entity consented, his own final plea and sentencing dispositions.
- He was also the referral magistrate on several notable matters, including a state prisoner's habeas petition later cited in published Fifth Circuit and district-court opinions, and the initial detention proceedings in a high-profile 2019 immigration-worksite-raid prosecution, United States v. Baltazar-Sebastian.
Pending matters in the official report
Judge Ball was last listed in the Civil Justice Reform Act report as of September 30, 2023.
| Motions pending more than six months | 0 |
| 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 | 0 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 1 |
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.
A historical record
Judge Ball no longer sits on this court. 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.