Grimes v. Panta

Summary

The Southern District of California denied Jerome L. Grimes’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis under the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s three-strikes provision. The court dismissed the action without prejudice for failure to pay the full filing fee, found no plausible allegation of imminent danger of serious physical injury, certified that an IFP appeal would not be taken in good faith, and directed the Clerk to close the case.

Holdings

1. A prisoner who has accumulated three or more qualifying strikes may not proceed in forma pauperis unless the statutory imminent-danger exception applies. Plaintiff had accumulated far more than three qualifying strikes, so the court denied his IFP motion.
2. A three-strikes prisoner must plausibly allege that he faced imminent danger of serious physical injury at the time of filing, and Plaintiff did not do so.
3. Because Plaintiff was barred from proceeding IFP and did not pay the full filing fee, the court dismissed the civil action without prejudice.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Plaintiff was barred from proceeding in forma pauperis under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) because he had accumulated three or more qualifying strikes.
2. Whether Plaintiff alleged a plausible imminent danger of serious physical injury sufficient to invoke the exception to the PLRA three-strikes bar.
3. Whether the action should be dismissed without prejudice for failure to pay the full filing fee.

Disposition

dismissed