Ryan Barnes v. Brittany Greene, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois denied Ryan Barnes’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis under the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s three-strikes provision. The court dismissed the action as a sanction for Barnes’s failure to disclose his prior federal lawsuits and accumulated strikes, which the court characterized as fraud upon the court. The court directed entry of judgment for the defendants and provided instructions concerning appeal and appellate filing fees.

Holdings

1. A prisoner with three or more qualifying PLRA strikes may proceed in forma pauperis only if the complaint sufficiently alleges that the prisoner was under imminent danger of serious physical injury when the complaint was filed. Barnes did not satisfy that requirement, so his motion to proceed in forma pauperis was denied.
2. Dismissal is an appropriate sanction when a litigant lies to the court to obtain the benefit of proceeding in forma pauperis, and the court dismissed Barnes's case as a sanction for failing to disclose his prior federal lawsuits and PLRA strikes.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Barnes qualified to proceed in forma pauperis despite having accumulated three or more PLRA strikes.
2. Whether Barnes alleged imminent danger of serious physical injury sufficient to invoke the exception to the PLRA three-strikes rule.
3. Whether dismissal was an appropriate sanction for Barnes's failure to disclose his prior federal litigation and three-strikes status.

Disposition

dismissed