Louis Guirola Jr.
How Judge Guirola rules, drawn from 22 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Guirola
Louis Guirola, Jr. is a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Judge Guirola received a commission on March 22, 2004. Judge Guirola assumed senior status on March 23, 2018.
Judge Guirola's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Guirola'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 Guirola decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In O’Bryant v. Walgreen, he granted summary judgment to the store and its contractor after finding that sidewalk amenities and one earlier curb jump did not show a foreseeable vehicle collision or an assumed duty to install bollards.
“Regardless of whether amenities on the sidewalk make it more likely than otherwise that patrons will linger on the sidewalk, the suggestion to use these amenities is nothing like the use of the pay window in Stanley, where each patron was required to stand with their back to approaching cars to pay for fuel.”
In Lay v. Singing River Health System, he found that a list of laid-off employees lacked comparable information about the full workforce and did not, by itself, show pretext in an age-discrimination case.
“Lay simply attaches a list of the ninety-seven terminated employees with associated identifiers such as job title, age, race, sex and years of service ... However, there is no similar information about the population from which this list was generated.”
Reviewing an ATF firearms-license revocation de novo, the judge treated a licensee's after-the-fact partial correction of missing records as irrelevant to whether the original violations were willful, holding that willfulness is judged at the time of the violation, not by later remediation efforts.
“after-the-fact efforts to correct the specific violations 'are irrelevant to the issue of willfulness at the time the errors occurred.'”
In Reunion Capital v. Asgari-Majd, he entered default judgment for the proven loan principal and costs but requested more evidence before awarding additional damages or attorney fees.
“The Court requests additional evidence concerning additional damages and attorneys’ fees sought by Reunion.”
Procedural preferences
In Wolfe v. Tobacco Express II, Inc., Guirola applied the FLSA economic-realities test to the individually named defendant, Thomas-Gatian. Her testimony that she made staffing decisions and managed employees day to day supported treating her as an employer, while conflicting evidence about whether the business knew of Wolfe's earlier work precluded summary judgment on that wage claim.
“the Court 'must apply the economic realities test to each individual or entity alleged to be an employer and each must satisfy the four part test.'”
In Eberline v. Media Net, he distinguished an earlier Tennessee ruling that had found Eberline to be an employee because the circumstances of his work for the Tennessee company differed significantly.
“Review of that decision shows significant differences in the circumstances of Eberline's employment with the Tennessee company.”
In Harrison County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, he denied leave to amend after dismissing for lack of standing because the proposed amendment would be futile.
“Court further finds that Plaintiffs’ Motion to Amend their Complaint should be denied because amendment would be futile.”
Cautions
In Delaneuville v. Jackson County, Mississippi, he dismissed a prisoner's civil rights case without prejudice after the plaintiff failed to comply with four orders or update his address despite repeated warnings and mailings to two facilities.
“Delaneuville failed to comply with four Court Orders and failed to advise the Court of his current address. The Court clearly warned Delaneuville many times that failure to comply with Orders or failure to advise the Court of a change of address would lead to the dismissal of this case.”
In Strain v. Gulf Coast Shipyard Group, he dismissed the request for an injunction requiring payment of monetary damages while allowing the other requests for injunctive relief to proceed.
“the Court finds that the plaintiffs' request for an injunction ordering Gulf Coast to pay monetary damages is inappropriate and must be dismissed.”
In King's suit against the government, Guirola held that considering the tort claims would require reviewing the VA's decision to terminate benefits, which § 511(a) barred.
“Likewise, a determination of King’s tort claims would require this Court to consider issues of law and fact involved in the VA’s decision to terminate King’s benefits. This would be improper under the language of § 511(a).”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the [104] Motion for Summary Judgment filed by Defendant CBRE GROUP, INC. ... are GRANTED”
“the [217] Motion for Summary Judgment filed by Defendant Walgreen Co. are GRANTED ... Plaintiff's claims against Walgreen Co. and CBRE GROUP, INC. are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“the [234] Motion for Partial Summary Judgment against Walgreen Co. filed by Plaintiff Tommy O'Bryant ... are DENIED”
“the [238] Motion for Partial Summary Judgment against CBRE filed by Plaintiff Tommy O'Bryant are DENIED”
“the [49] Motion to Dismiss filed by Defendants Dirtworks, Inc. of Vicksburg; HHG LLC; and Harry H. Gilliland, Jr. is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART. The Motion is GRANTED insofar as it seeks dismissal of the fraud claim against Harry H. Gilliland, Jr. The Motion is otherwise DENIED.”
“the Motion to Dismiss [16] filed by the defendant Gulf Coast Shipyard Group, Inc., is GRANTED as to the plaintiffs' claims seeking an injunction requiring Gulf Coast to pay monetary damages. The Motion is DENIED in all other respects.”
“Mayor Butler is entitled to qualified immunity because it was not clearly established that she could be subject to individual liability for causing Smith's termination.”
“the City is not entitled to summary judgment.”
“the [31] Motion for Summary Judgment filed by the defendant State Farm Mutual Insurance Company is DENIED.”
“the [33] Motion for Partial Summary Judgment as to the Issue of Coverage filed by the plaintiff Jessica C. McGlothin is GRANTED.”
“the [31] Motion for Partial Summary Judgment as to Punitive and Extra-contractual Damages filed by the defendant State Farm Mutual Insurance Company is GRANTED. Jessica C. McGlothin's claims for extra-contractual and punitive damages are hereby DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“the [115] Motion for Summary Judgment filed by Defendants Giterdone C Store, LLC and 443-B Yacht Club Drive LLC ... the Court is of the opinion that the Motion should be denied.”
“Plaintiff Lay has failed to show there is a question of material fact regarding whether age was a factor in Singing River's decision to terminate her employment. Accordingly, the Motion will be granted and this case dismissed.”
“Acadia has shown that the policy of insurance excludes coverage for the injuries alleged in the underlying action. Accordingly, Acadia owes no duty to defend or indemnify Pearl River Community College.”
“there are questions of material fact precluding summary judgment. Accordingly, both summary judgment motions will be denied.”
“Plaintiff Gulf Restoration Network's [58] Motion for Partial Summary Judgment should be and is hereby GRANTED. The Court holds as a matter of law that Gulf Restoration has standing, and that Defendant Hancock County Development, LLC, has violated Sections 402 and 404 of the Clean Water Act.”
“This Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the claims alleged in King's complaint. Accordingly, Defendants' Motion to Dismiss is granted.”
“the Motion [40] to Dismiss filed by Defendant Roll-Royce Corporation is GRANTED. Plaintiff's claims against Rolls-Royce Corporation are DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
His general docket includes personal-injury and premises-liability removals, insurance-coverage disputes, employment and civil-rights claims (including against municipal and county defendants), prisoner civil-rights and habeas petitions, Social Security appeals, and commercial and contract disputes, drawn primarily from the Gulfport/Biloxi division.
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 | 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 1 | 1 |
| Mar 2022 | 3 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 1 | 1 |
| Mar 2021 | 3 | 0 |
| Sep 2020 | 1 | 0 |
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 Guirola: 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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