Luke A. Evans
How Judge Evans rules, drawn from 32 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Evans
Luke Austin Evans became a United States Magistrate Judge for the Middle District of Tennessee in 2026. Before joining the court, he practiced criminal defense, family law, and civil rights with a Murfreesboro law firm. He earned his law degree from the University of Memphis School of Law in 2004.
Judge Evans's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Evans, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Conferences
In the joint proposed initial case management order, propose a calendar date for every deadline.
“A calendar date shall be proposed for each deadline.”
Conferences
To request pro bono mediation through the court’s ADR panel, move for referral and explain why private mediation is infeasible and court referral would advance resolution.
“Magistrate Judge Evans: The parties may request referral to a member of the Court’s ADR Panel for pro bono mediation by filing a motion that states why private mediation is not feasible and why referral to a mediator will materially advance the resolution of the case.”
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 Evans decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Wiseman v. Super Ego Holdings, Evans recommended granting a motion to dismiss a pro se complaint without prejudice after the plaintiff failed to respond and the complaint grouped defendants without giving defendant-specific notice.
“IT IS RECOMMENDED that the Motion to Dismiss (Doc. No. 8) be GRANTED and Plaintiff's complaint be DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
Procedural preferences
In Flint v. Feit Electric, after the trial and pretrial dates were postponed, Evans denied the parties' competing expert-exclusion and voluntary-dismissal motions and reset discovery deadlines. He noted the limit on a magistrate judge's authority over dispositive motions.
“Accordingly, the Court denies both pending motions. (Doc. Nos. 26, 30.)”
In a reviewed sanctions dispute, Evans enforced the required discovery-conference procedure before addressing a sanctions request.
“The failure to abide by this Court’s order stands as a sufficient ground to deny the motion.”
Cautions
In Rigney v. CSX Transportation, Evans recommended denying CSX's motion to dismiss for alleged discovery misconduct, citing the parties' failure to confer, CSX's delay, and joint status reports that had not raised the accusations.
“For the foregoing reasons, the Court recommends that CSX's motion to dismiss (Doc. No. 196) be denied.”
In a reviewed discovery dispute, Evans declined to pause discovery when the movant identified no concrete burden and relied on an ordinary dismissal motion.
“He has not articulated any specific burden that he would endure if discovery were not stayed.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Accordingly, the Court denies both pending motions. (Doc. Nos. 26, 30.)”
“For the foregoing reasons, the Court recommends that CSX’s motion to dismiss (Doc. No. 196) be denied.”
“IT IS RECOMMENDED that the Motion to Dismiss (Doc. No. 8) be GRANTED and Plaintiff's complaint be DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“the Court ADOPTS the R&R (Doc. No. 65) in its entirety. Carson's motion to dismiss (Doc. No. 18) is GRANTED. The cruel and unusual punishment claim against Carson is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“Amazon's motion to dismiss (Doc. No. 36) but without prejudice to filing an appropriate motion, if desired, under Rule 12(c).”
“the Court GRANTS Mohammadi's alternative request for leave to amend (Doc. No. 39).”
“the pending motion for summary judgment (Doc. No. 95) but WITHOUT PREJUDICE to renewal after the close of discovery.”
“the Court respectfully recommends granting defendants' motions for summary judgment (Doc. Nos. 103, 106, 109, 112).”
“Plaintiff's motion for spoliation sanctions (Doc. No. 68) is DENIED.”
“the Magistrate Judge RECOMMENDS that Plaintiff Pamela Robinson's motion for judgment on the administrative record (Doc. No. 9) be DENIED and the Commissioner's final disability decision be AFFIRMED.”
“the Magistrate Judge RECOMMENDS that Defendants' motion to dismiss (Doc. No. 28) should be GRANTED and Coleman's amended complaint (Doc. No. 27) should be DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“Harpole's motion (Doc. No. 13) is GRANTED.”
“the Magistrate Judge RECOMMENDS that Defendants' Motion to Dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim (Doc. No. 23) be DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Evans took the bench in early 2026. He issues recommendations on referred dispositive motions, decides consent Social Security appeals, and manages removed civil cases. His directly assigned cases were filed in 2026 and remain pending, so duration data is not yet available.
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 | 3 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 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 United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, not for Judge Evans: 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 | 1,138 | 8.7 months |
| Closed with no court action | 576 | 7.5 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 543 | 9.4 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 9 | not reported |
| Closed during trial | 10 | 28.1 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 1,138 | 8.7 months |
| Sep 2024 | 1,262 | 7.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 1,090 | 8.9 months |
| Sep 2022 | 987 | 11 months |
| Sep 2021 | 1,007 | 10.6 months |
| Sep 2020 | 890 | 10.3 months |
| Sep 2019 | 982 | 10.7 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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