5th Circuit removes Entergy case from Judge Wingate

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered the long-running federal lawsuit by Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood against Entergy Corp. removed from U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate, citing the judge’s failure to rule on pending motions.

Hood filed the petition to remove the case from Wingate.

“This case has languished too long in the District Court, with virtually no movement. A writ of mandamus seeking reassignment is the only viable option available to the state of Mississippi at this juncture,” Hood’s petition said.

Last week, the 5th Circuit said it considered the merits of the petition and concluded the requested relief was appropriate. It directed Wingate to deliver the case to the chief judge of the Southern District of Mississippi for reassignment.

In 2010, the 5th Circuit criticized Wingate for taking more than six years to enter a final judgment in a civil case. A check of the United Courts statistics from Sept. 30, 2015, the most recent data available, of federal judges both in the Northern District and Southern  District of Mississippi with motions pending longer than six months, showed Wingate had the highest number in Mississippi with 105, followed by Carlton Reeves with nine. Two judges had one each. All other federal judges had zero motions pending longer than six months.

The 5th Circuit said in the Hood v. Entergy case: “The recent ruling denying the motion for judgment on the pleadings did not moot the petition, which seeks the reassignment based upon the district court’s repeated failure or refusal to rule on pending motions in this 8-year-old case that has now given rise to three mandamus petitions focused on delay. The petition cites the failure to timely decide the motion for judgment on the pleading only as a recent example of the repeated delays.”

Hood filed the lawsuit in December 2008, claiming the New Orleans-based utility and its subsidiaries illegally manipulated the purchase and the sale of electricity to maximize profits. Entergy denied Hood’s claim.

The suit was initially filed in Hinds County Chancery Court, but Entergy had it removed to federal court. Hood sought to have it returned to state court.

Prior to the lawsuit, Hood and Entergy were at odds with Hood alleging the utility overcharged ratepayers by buying electricity from sister companies at a higher rate than on the open market, then passing the cost on to ratepayers.

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While Hood said the Entergy case has been languishing for eight years before the U.S. District Court, he said Entergy's motion for judgment on the pleadings has been pending before the court for over seven years.

"The district court’s inaction on the state’s motions for remand, coupled with its seven-year delay in ruling on defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings, is an affront to the sovereignty case," the motion said.

Contact Jimmie E. Gates at 601-961-7212 or jgates@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @jgatesnews on Twitter.