Henry Travillion Wingate
How Judge Wingate rules, drawn from 30 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Wingate
Henry Travillion Wingate is a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Judge Wingate received a commission on October 17, 1985.
Judge Wingate's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Wingate's own (checked October 9, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
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).
How Judge Wingate decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In a coverage dispute among four insurers who had jointly funded a settlement, the judge held that an insurer with a contractual duty to defend and settle is not a mere 'volunteer' barred from seeking contribution, so long as the settlement was within policy limits and reasonable: rejecting the argument that a payment made under protest or a reservation of rights forfeits that right.
“The insurers in the instant case, including Union, are not strangers to the transaction, and, thus, cannot be considered volunteers under Mississippi law, provided the settlement was within the policy limits and the settlement amount was reasonable.”
On a motion to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction premised on complete preemption, the judge required the removing party to show that Congress intended not merely to preempt state law but to transfer jurisdiction to federal court entirely, and read close appellate case law narrowly against the party invoking preemption.
“Because the Montreal Convention does not preempt McCubbins' state-law claims, no federal question exists, and this Court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction.”
Facing a request for emergency injunctive relief against a state attorney general's subpoena, the judge found evidence of a sustained pattern of public threats and pressure sufficient to show bad faith, an exception that let the case proceed in federal court despite the state's usual entitlement to deference over its own enforcement process.
“Google has presented significant evidence of bad faith, allegedly showing that Attorney General Hood's investigation and issuance of the subpoena represented an effort to coerce Google to comply with his requests regarding content removal.”
Procedural preferences
Faced with five pending dispositive motions in a long-running civil-rights case with disputed facts about a language interpreter's role in a child-removal, the judge denied all of them at once rather than picking through them individually, opening general discovery instead of resolving contested factual disputes on the papers.
“Having read the briefs and heard oral arguments, this court is persuaded to deny the summary judgment and dismissal motions [docket nos. 42, 67, 68, 137] at this time and open general discovery.”
In Parker v. Wal-Mart, he denied the plaintiffs' request to reopen summary judgment based on the earlier safety guidelines, finding that they had not pursued the older document with due diligence and that it would not have changed the judgment.
“the plaintiffs did not exercise due diligence in obtaining the 2003 Guidelines.”
In a multi-motion antitrust and contract dispute, the judge ruled on nine separate motions in a single order, three dispositive motions and six evidentiary motions in limine, rather than deferring the evidentiary motions to trial, giving the parties a complete picture of what would and would not be tried before the pretrial conference.
“The court grants in part and denies in part the Motion to Dismiss [docket no. 12]. The court grants the Motion to Dismiss only as to Counts V and VI of the complaint.”
In Copart, the court sanctioned defendants for a successive dismissal motion that repeated defenses available earlier, awarding the opposing party its reasonable fees for responding.
“Accordingly, this Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s Motion for Sanctions and ORDERS Defendants and/or their counsel to pay reasonable attorney’s fees incurred in responding to the improper motion.”
Cautions
In United States v. Young, he denied Section 2255 relief where the defendant challenged the sentencing guidelines calculation, holding that the nonconstitutional claim could have been raised on direct appeal.
“Finally, any assertion that this court misapplied the Sentencing Guidelines is a nonconstitutional claim that could and should have been raised on direct appeal, and may not be raised for the first time in this collateral proceeding.”
Confronted with a plea-agreement waiver of collateral review, the judge held the waiver did not bar an ineffective-assistance claim, but only reached that narrow exception after confirming the defendant's plea colloquy showed he understood the sentencing exposure at the time he pleaded guilty: a reminder that a thorough plea record is what lets this kind of challenge fail on the merits rather than survive on procedure.
“In view of the exception set forth in Henderson, and inasmuch as the defendant's petition claims that he received ineffective assistance of counsel, this court concludes that the petition is not procedurally barred.”
In a property insurance dispute, he limited a construction expert to physical repair opinions and excluded insurance coverage conclusions.
“Summerall may discuss roof replacement only as a physical construction remedy, not as a coverage conclusion.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Traveler's summary judgment motion [doc. no. 31] is denied.”
“Union's Motion for Summary Judgment is granted [doc. no. 33].”
“Plaintiff McCubbins' Motion to Remand is granted, [docket no. 7]. His Supplement to Motion to Remand is commensurately granted, [docket no. 27]. This lawsuit is, thus, remanded to the First Judicial District of the Circuit Court of Hinds County, Mississippi.”
“Having decided that this Court does not have subject matter jurisdiction of this lawsuit, it is not necessary to reach the defendants' motion to dismiss or for judgment on the pleadings.”
“On March 2, 2015, this court, having reviewed and studied the parties' arguments in addition to the briefs filed by the amicus curiae, entered an abbreviated ruling granting Google's motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.”
“Commensurate with this ruling, this court denies the Attorney General's motion to dismiss.”
“Having read the briefs and heard oral arguments, this court is persuaded to deny the summary judgment and dismissal motions [docket nos. 42, 67, 68, 137] at this time and open general discovery.”
“This court, further, denies the motion to reverse the Magistrate Judge's order [docket no. 120].”
“Other outstanding motions, Motion to Strike [docket no. 133] and Motion for Discovery [docket no. 145] are dismissed as moot.”
“The court grants in part and denies in part the Motion to Dismiss [docket no. 12]. The court grants the Motion to Dismiss only as to Counts V and VI of the complaint.”
“The court grants in part and denies in part the Motion for Summary Judgment [docket no. 86]. The court grants the motion only as to the Robinson-Patman Act claim. The court denies the motion as to the Sherman Act claim, the Mississippi antitrust claim, and the tortious interference claim.”
“This court finds that C. Daniel's claim of inadequate signalization at the railroad crossing where her husband died is pre-empted by federal law.”
“Having applied the appropriate juridical principles to the undisputed material facts of this lawsuit, this court is persuaded to grant Summary Judgment to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.”
“This court finds that the plaintiffs did not exercise due diligence in obtaining the 2003 Guidelines. ... Thus, the Parkers' Rule 60(b)(2) motion is without merit.”
“Therefore, this court hereby grants First Colony’s motion for summary judgment.”
“Accordingly, all other motions now pending before this court are rendered moot and denied.”
“The court hereby grants plaintiff ABIC's motion for summary judgment, thereby compelling defendant Murray to arbitrate any disputes she might have with plaintiffs.”
“Murray’s motion to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction is therefore denied.”
“Pursuant to the above discussion, this court is persuaded to grant defendants' motions for dismissal and for summary judgment. Accordingly, this court dismisses plaintiffs' claims for negligence, conversion, breach of contract and violation of due process.”
“Therefore, in light of the foregoing, the Report and Recommendation of the United States Magistrate Judge must be set aside, and the motion of the Respondents to dismiss the petition as moot [item # 10] is hereby granted.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Judge Wingate's Jackson-division docket spans employment and personal-injury cases removed from state court, insurance-coverage and consumer-finance disputes, prisoner civil-rights and habeas petitions (both state 2254 and federal 2241), Social Security appeals, and general contract and products-liability litigation. As of mid-2026 he continues to receive new case assignments at a steady pace.
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 | 9 |
| 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 | 17 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 9 | 17 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 12 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 9 |
| Sep 2024 | 47 | 8 |
| Mar 2024 | 66 | 13 |
| Sep 2023 | 26 | 12 |
| Mar 2023 | 7 | 4 |
| Sep 2022 | 8 | 8 |
| Mar 2022 | 4 | 5 |
| Sep 2021 | 32 | 7 |
| Mar 2021 | 69 | 6 |
| Sep 2020 | 88 | 6 |
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 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, not for Judge Wingate: 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 | 1,034 | 9.4 months |
| Closed with no court action | 613 | 8.4 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 385 | 9.9 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 26 | 21 months |
| Closed during trial | 10 | 21.5 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 1,034 | 9.4 months |
| Sep 2024 | 988 | 8.7 months |
| Sep 2023 | 972 | 11 months |
| Sep 2022 | 1,139 | 11.9 months |
| Sep 2021 | 1,061 | 11.2 months |
| Sep 2020 | 1,605 | 7.2 months |
| Sep 2019 | 1,094 | 9.3 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).
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