Frank Alan Little, Jr.
Judge Little no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Little decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In the tribal-gaming and construction litigation arising from Louisiana's Indian casinos he analyzes tribal-court and federal jurisdiction rigorously: land is not 'Indian country' subject to tribal jurisdiction absent a federal set-aside, and tribal gaming-management contracts are void without National Indian Gaming Commission approval.
“Due to the lack of a set aside by the federal government, the hotel land was not Indian country at the time F.L. Crane worked on the construction project.”
In products-liability cases he applies the Louisiana Products Liability Act's common-knowledge limit on the duty to warn, declining to impose a duty to warn of dangers already widely understood.
“Knowledge that cigarette smoking is harmful to health is widespread and can be considered part of the common knowledge of the community”
Procedural preferences
On removal he is skeptical of remand motions and reluctant to reward forum manipulation: he retains supplemental jurisdiction over pendent state claims after federal claims are dropped, applies the artful-pleading and fraudulent-joinder doctrines, and denies remand where those doctrines supply federal jurisdiction (though he will grant remand for a genuine procedural defect such as a failure of unanimity).
“This naked attempt at forum manipulation should not be allowed.”
He reads contracts by their text and grammar under Louisiana Civil Code article 2046, resolving indemnity and coverage disputes on the words the parties chose rather than on equitable adjustment.
“the gerundial ‘being done’ imposes a sense of present activity upon the nouns ‘construction’ and ‘maintenance work.’”
In prisoner and detainee civil-rights suits he grants qualified immunity where the law is not clearly established but will let a genuinely disputed constitutional claim (such as interference with religious practice) proceed, while treating trivial burdens as de minimis and non-actionable.
“had, at most, a de minimis impact on his free exercise rights.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Accordingly, the motion to dismiss pursuant to Rules 12(b)(5) and 4(m) filed by defendants McNeil, Woods, Green, Copeland and Ayres is DENIED.”
“For the foregoing reasons, plaintiffs motion to reopen is DENIED.”
“Accordingly, plaintiffs’ Motion to Remand this action to the Ninth Judicial District Court, Parish of Rapides, State of Louisiana, is GRANTED.”
“For the following reasons, this court DENIES plaintiffs’ motion to remand.”
“Because all the Camegie-Mellon considerations recommend to this court that we exercise our discretion to retain jurisdiction over plaintiffs pendent state law claims, plaintiffs Motion to Remand is, accordingly, DENIED.”
“Thus, for the reasons given above, this court GRANTS the motion for judgment on the pleadings of Paul Ross and Dennis Kennedy.”
“Accordingly, defendant Boersma’s motion to dismiss is DENIED.”
“After elimination of the dross, duplication and puffery in the submission to this court by counselors Gladney and Coco, this court finds the total hours subject to compensation to be forty in number. The total fee approved is $3,000.”
“the [doc. no. 257] motion for partial summary judgment filed by defendants F.L. Crane & Sons, Inc. and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company is GRANTED.”
“McElroy’s motion is GRANTED. The claim for a declaratory judgment filed by plaintiff, Tunica-Biloxi Indians of Louisiana d/b/a Paragon Casino Resort, against McElroy Metal, Inc. is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“Hence, the decision of the bankruptcy court is reversed. This matter is returned to the bankruptcy court for further action not inconsistent with this opinion.”
“For these reasons, the plaintiffs motion for release of records and for a Vaughn index is DENIED.”
“The defendant’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 178 days (N = 11).
As a district and then Chief Judge sitting in Alexandria and Lafayette (1984-2006), Little carried a general civil and criminal docket. The enumeration retained here is a slice of mid-1980s Lafayette-Division civil cases and a few 2004-2005 Alexandria-Division cases -- by their captions a mix of maritime and oilfield personal-injury, energy-industry, insurance and contract, prisoner civil-rights and Social Security matters typical of central and south Louisiana (e.g. Lodrigue v. Regal Offshore, Gatx Leasing v. Nicklos Rig 32, Tredegar Industries v. Godchaux, Seacor Marine v. Dufrene, Jackson v. Social Security Administration). Nature-of-suit codes are only partly retained, so the mix is described chiefly from the captions.
A historical record
Judge Little no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.