David B. Fannin
How Judge Fannin decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On qualified immunity at the pleadings he parses each defendant separately and rejects group pleading; allege particularized conduct by each official.
“a 1983 plaintiff who alleges mistreatment at the hands of a group [must] describe with particularity the actions taken by each of them individually.”
Diversity removal by an LLC requires proving the citizenship/domicile of EVERY member at BOTH the filing date and the removal date; affidavits silent on one member or one date do not cure the defect, and doubts are resolved in favor of remand.
“no affidavit affirms both Stephen and Robert Morris were Louisiana citizens on August 11, 2023 and September 15, 2023.”
Procedural preferences
Strict on service and leave: a pro se plaintiff who files an amended complaint without leave and fails to serve it will be denied leave to amend.
“Plaintiff yet again failed to serve his Complaint, which was filed without leave of Court”
Rule 12(f) reaches only pleadings (Rule 7(a)); a motion to strike an affidavit or removal notice will be denied.
“affidavits are not pleadings, and thus not subject to Rule 12(f).”
Cautions
Will recommend 1915(e) dismissal -- with prejudice when the claim asserts a legal right that does not exist (here, no right to enlist in the military), and deny leave to amend once the plaintiff has pleaded his best case.
“He asserts a right that the law simply does not recognize: entry into the Armed Forces.”
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 in part: 1Denied: 1Moot / procedural: 1 | counts only |
| Motion for leave to amend N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motion to proceed ifp N = 1 |
Granted: 1 | counts only |
| Motions to remand N = 1 |
Granted: 1 | counts only |
| Motions to strike N = 1 |
Denied: 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.
“Magistrate Judge Fannin recommends that the Court deny the motion in part and grant the motion in part ... Defendants' Motion to Dismiss for lack of standing be DENIED. ... Qualified Immunity from George Hansard's 1983 claim be DENIED as to Defendant Zamora ... be GRANTED as to the School Board Defendants.”
“Plaintiff's Motion for Leave to Amend [Doc. 15] is therefore DENIED.”
“Defendants' Motion for an Order Limiting Discovery and the Motion to Dismiss [Docs. 4 and 26] are DENIED AS MOOT.”
“Defendants' Joint Renewed Motion to Dismiss is DENIED (Doc. 73).”
“the Magistrate recommended that the Court grant Nasio's IFP motion. The Court agrees. Nasio's IFP motion is GRANTED.”
“Petro Guardian has not met its burden to show Robert Morris was domiciled in Louisiana on August 11, 2023 and September 15, 2023. For this reason, the Court RECOMMENDS Plaintiffs' Motion to Remand be GRANTED.”
“it is ORDERED that the Motion to Strike is DENIED ... affidavits are not pleadings, and thus not subject to Rule 12(f).”