Allen Joe Fish
How Judge Fish rules, drawn from 26 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Fish
Allen Joe Fish is a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Judge Fish received a commission on February 24, 1983. Judge Fish assumed senior status on November 12, 2007.
Judge Fish's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Fish, 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
Motions
Do not combine an answer and a motion in one pleading.
“An answer and a motion shall not be combined in the same pleading.”
Motions
Email a Word or WordPerfect proposed order with every motion.
“Proposed orders are required to be submitted with EVERY motion. The proposed order must be emailed, in Word or WordPerfect format”
Conferences
A Rule 26(f) conference is not required.
“No Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f) conference is required.”
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).
- Special Order 19-2: Service, Access, and Management of Sealed Documents ↗
- Miscellaneous Order 61-1: Restrictions on Electronic Filing of Highly Sensitive Documents ↗
- Miscellaneous Order 61: Electronic Case Filing ↗
- Special Order 19-1: Second Amended Order Regarding Public Access to Certain Documents ↗
How Judge Fish decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Federal summary-judgment practice: a defendant cannot file a Texas-style 'no-evidence' motion for summary judgment in federal court: the movant must affirmatively cite record evidence showing the absence of a genuine issue, not merely assert that the opponent has no proof. A conclusory 'no-evidence' motion fails.
“A 'no-evidence motion for summary judgment . . . is a pleading that may be filed in state court, but not federal court.' ... Melton Trucking has failed to offer any evidence whatsoever that there was 'an absence of proof as to the factual issue . . .' Therefore, Melton Trucking's motion for summary judgment on the claims for [the torts] must be denied.”
Removal/remand: he construes the removal statute strictly and resolves all doubts against removal. On improper-joinder challenges to a non-diverse in-state defendant he applies a Rule 12(b)(6)-type analysis under the more lenient Texas notice-pleading standard, and the removing party bears a 'heavy burden'; a possibility of recovery defeats removal.
“any doubts concerning removal must be resolved against removal and in favor of remanding the case back to state court. ... The party seeking removal bears the heavy burden of proving improper joinder. ... If the defendants cannot prove improper joinder, remand is mandated.”
Diversity jurisdiction: the citizenship of an LLC is determined by the citizenship of all its members, NOT its state of incorporation or principal place of business. A party opposing removal who points only to an LLC's headquarters location, without pleading its members' citizenship, fails to defeat diversity.
“the citizenship of a limited liability company is determined by the citizenship of all of its members. ... A limited liability company's state of incorporation and principal place of business are irrelevant for determining whether diversity jurisdiction exists.”
Cautions
In a loan dispute, Fish held that unsupported assertions of impossibility did not create a fact dispute against the lender’s summary judgment evidence.
“have failed to point to any competent summary judgment evidence”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the reasons stated above, Rodriquez's motion to remand is GRANTED. This case is REMANDED to the 101st Judicial District Court of Dallas County, Texas.”
“Melton Trucking's motion for partial summary judgment on Rev. Parker's claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress, gross negligence, strict liability, and negligence per se is DENIED. However, Melton Trucking's motion for summary judgment on Rev. Parker's claims for spoliation and attorney's fees is GRANTED.”
“For the reasons stated above, the plaintiff's motion is DENIED.”
“Defendants' amended motion for summary judgment (docket entry 11), is GRANTED.”
“Defendants' Motion to Dismiss Baseless Claims Pursuant to Rule Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), filed June 10, 2021 (docket entry 5) is GRANTED. By separate judgment, the plaintiffs' claims against the defendants will be DISMISSED with prejudice for failure to state a claim.”
“The defendants' motions to dismiss are thus GRANTED, and the plaintiff's complaint is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“The motion to dismiss (docket entry 7), filed by the defendant Eric V. Moye (‘Judge Moye’), is GRANTED. By separate judgment, any claims against Judge Moye in an official capacity will be DISMISSED without prejudice, and the claims against him in an individual capacity will be DISMISSED with prejudice for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.”
“the court GRANTS the defendants' motions to dismiss (docket entries 9, 15, 28). All other pending motions are DENIED.”
“Finding no error, the court ACCEPTS the Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendation of the United States Magistrate Judge (docket entry 11) and GRANTS Lakeview’s motion to dismiss (docket entry 20).”
“For the reasons stated above, the plaintiff’s motion to remand is GRANTED.”
“The defendants’ motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief is DENIED as moot.”
“Accordingly, the defendant’s motion to dismiss (docket entry 5) is GRANTED, and plaintiff’s claims are DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“Further, the plaintiff’s request for jurisdictional discovery is DENIED.”
“the defendant’s motion to limit the plaintiff’s claim for attorneys’ fees (docket entry 10) is GRANTED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Fish's senior-judge docket in the Dallas Division includes motions to vacate federal sentences, immigration-detention habeas petitions referred to magistrate judges, and civil cases involving mortgages, foreclosure, consumer communications, insurance, and employment.
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 | 2 |
| 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 | 2 | 0 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2025 | 1 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 5 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 2 |
| 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.
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, not for Judge Fish: 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 | 4,103 | 5.9 months |
| Closed with no court action | 829 | 4 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 3,228 | 6.3 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 11 | 16.1 months |
| Closed during trial | 35 | 19.3 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 4,103 | 5.9 months |
| Sep 2024 | 3,648 | 5.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 3,808 | 6.5 months |
| Sep 2022 | 8,698 | 56 months |
| Sep 2021 | 6,094 | 19.4 months |
| Sep 2020 | 6,294 | 13.3 months |
| Sep 2019 | 3,367 | 6.9 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).
Draft for Judge Fish with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Fish, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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