Jeffery S. Frensley
How Judge Frensley decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
On a motion to remand, applies the Hertz Corp. v. Friend 'nerve center' test for a corporation's principal place of business and places the burden on the plaintiff to rebut the removing defendant's diversity showing; aggregates the ad damnum and damages categories to find the >$75k amount-in-controversy met.
“the United States Supreme Court has held that a corporation’s ‘principal place of business’ refers ‘to the place where a corporation’s officers direct, control, and coordinate the corporation’s activities.’ Hertz Corp. v. Friend ... Plaintiff has failed to present evidence to support her contention that Defendant’s principal place of business is located here.”
Motion outcomes
Counted from classified signed orders only. Percentages are shown only where the sample is large enough to be meaningful; smaller samples are reported as raw counts.
| Motions to dismiss N = 3 |
Granted: 2Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motions to remand N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Summary judgment N = 1 |
Moot / procedural: 1 | counts only |
A "1 of 1" is one ruling, not a tendency. Treat small samples as illustrative, not predictive.
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the undersigned recommends that the Plaintiff’s motion to remand to state court. (Docket No. 10) be DENIED.”
“a Report and Recommendation from the Magistrate Judge (Doc. No. 186) recommending the Court grant the motion to dismiss filed by Defendants Regina Hensley, Michael Barnett, and Rebecca Mink.”
“The Magistrate Judge also recommended the Court grant the motion to dismiss filed by Defendants Tony Parker and Kenneth Williams.”
“the Magistrate Judge recommends the Motion to Dismiss be DENIED without prejudice, noting the deadlines for discovery and dispositive motions were extended”
“the Magistrate Judge recommends that this action be dismissed without prejudice under Rule 41(b) ... for failure to prosecute and that the pending motion for summary judgment (Doc. No. 44) be denied as moot.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 101 days (N = 1).
Two roles. (1) JUDGE OF RECORD by consent on Social Security appeals (42:405(g)) -- e.g. Olesen v. O'Malley, Tommaso v. Commissioner (2024-filed) -- signing IFP orders, scheduling orders, and the judgment on the administrative record (typically a sentence-four reversal/remand). (2) Criminal-duty magistrate (search & seizure warrants, mj complaints -- Walker, Santos, Moon, Philippi, Garcia). (3) REFERRAL magistrate writing R&Rs on the district judges' civil dockets (heavy on pro se prisoner sec.1983 and IFP screening). NOT a grant rate -- role/composition only.