Rico Paul v. Brittany VanVolkenburg, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri denied Rico Paul’s application to proceed in forma pauperis under the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s three-strikes provision. The court concluded that the complaint alleged past harms rather than an imminent danger of serious physical injury, dismissed the action without prejudice to filing a fully paid complaint, and denied the motion for appointed counsel as moot.

Holdings

1. A prisoner subject to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) may proceed in forma pauperis only if he was under imminent danger of serious physical injury when he filed the complaint; allegations concerning past harm do not satisfy the exception.
2. The application to proceed in forma pauperis was denied because plaintiff had three qualifying strikes and did not establish imminent danger of serious physical injury.

Questions Presented

1. Whether plaintiff, having accumulated three qualifying dismissals, satisfied the imminent-danger exception to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g).
2. Whether plaintiff could proceed in forma pauperis under the Prison Litigation Reform Act.
3. Whether plaintiff's motion for appointed counsel remained viable after dismissal of the action.

Disposition

dismissed