Jackson Free Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge in southern Mississippi is temporarily blocked from taking on new civil court cases because of a backlog of pending cases.

An order signed March 3 by Chief U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola directs court clerks to assign new civil cases that would go to U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate to three semi-retired judges instead.

The order says districts judges have excused Wingate from new cases until he reduces his backlog of pending cases and motions to the average level of the district's other five active judges.

Last year, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals removed two cases from Wingate, one where the state of Mississippi is suing electric utility Entergy Corp., and a second where the state is suing executives in failed biofuel firm KiOR.