Lynn N. Hughes
How Judge Hughes rules, drawn from 6 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Hughes no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Hughes
Lynn Nettleton Hughes is a senior judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Judge Hughes received a commission on December 17, 1985. Judge Hughes assumed senior status on February 12, 2023. The court lists Lynn N. Hughes on inactive senior status since February 12, 2023.
How Judge Hughes decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Schnake's shareholder-derivative suit, Hughes dismissed with prejudice in part because an earlier Trinidadian judgment arose from the same cluster of facts; he treated a cause of action as facts rather than a legal theory.
“When both claims are 'derived from a common nucleus of operative facts,' they are the same cause of action. A cause of action is not a legal theory; it is a cluster of facts.”
In DeHart, Hughes granted the employer summary judgment on the employee's retaliation claim after finding no corroboration that it knew of her asserted protected activity and no fact issue from her unsupported assertions.
“there is no corroboration that (a) DeHart complained to Emerson in 2002, (b) the company knew about her participation in the Sinnette investigation, or (c) the company knew of her complaint to the Commission. DeHart may not create a fact issue with unfounded assertions.”
Procedural preferences
In Langley's severance-benefits case, Hughes opened his summary-judgment opinion with a brief narrative of the dispute and stated that the plan would prevail.
“Opinion on Summary Judgment ... 1. An executive was asked to leave. The administrator of his benefits plan denied his claim ... The plan will prevail.”
In Underwood v. Ocwen Loan Service, Hughes ordered the plaintiff's attorney to refund his client's fee after finding the suit barred by an earlier judgment and criticizing counsel for filing it.
“Nickolas Anthony Spencer must refund Rodney Underwood's fee by May 10, 2020. ... Spencer should not have filed this unprincipled suit in the first place.”
Cautions
In Prejean v. Abbott, Hughes dismissed the complaint on initial review because it alleged that the Texas Comptroller employed Prejean but named the state Attorney General as defendant without stating a ground for relief against him.
“Prejean has pleaded that the comptroller was her employer, not Abbott. ... The complaint states no legal ground for relief.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“It has moved for summary judgment and will prevail. ... DeHart will take nothing from Baker Hughes.”
“The plan will prevail. ... William Langley will take nothing from the Howard Hughes Management Co., llc, Separation Benefits Plan.”
“On September 13, 2021, Magistrate Judge Peter Bray recommended that the court grant Defendant’s motion for partial summary judgment on all the extra-contractual claims. (32) No objections were filed. The court adopts the report and recommendation as its memorandum and opinion.”
“this case is barred by res judicata. ... This case will be dismissed with prejudice as res judicata.”
“The defendants have moved to dismiss Schnake's suit, saying that this suit re-litigates of the Trinidadian action. ... Because Keith Schnake has no standing to sue for Trincan Oil Limited and has already litigated the same facts where he elected a remedy through it, this action will be dismissed with prejudice.”
This is a non-motion sua sponte dismissal. A pro se plaintiff sued the Texas Attorney General (Greg Abbott) for employment discrimination, but pleaded that her employer was the Texas Comptroller, not Abbott, and the complaint did not mention Abbott at all. Hughes dismissed for failure to state a claim on initial review (no defendant motion referenced; entry doc 7). The order states: 'Prejean has pleaded that the comptroller was her employer, not Abbott. The complaint states no legal ground for relief.'
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 172 days (N = 5).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 107.5 days (N = 4).
- Inactive senior judge; historical Houston-division civil docket.
- The terminated dockets sampled show a mix of securities/commodities class actions (Myers/Walbridge/Wolfson v. Harvest Natural Resources / PNGS, consolidated), immigration (Ochnodo v. Mukasey, Mulbah v. Holder), first-party insurance (Cardenas v. State Farm: Hurricane Harvey), ERISA (Langley), employment / Title VII (DeHart), ADA (Gilkerson v. State Bank of Texas), tort product liability (AIMCO v. Seacor), FLSA labor (Starnes), mortgage/foreclosure (Underwood v. Ocwen), and prisoner/detention (Flores v. Eagle Lake Detention Center).
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 | 16 |
| Mar 2022 | 15 | 13 |
| Sep 2021 | 13 | 10 |
| Mar 2021 | 72 | 13 |
| Sep 2020 | 79 | 21 |
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.
A historical record
Judge Hughes no longer sits on this court. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.