Bonilla v. Sixth Appellate District Court

Background

Steven Wayne Bonilla, a state prisoner proceeding without a lawyer, filed multiple civil-rights complaints under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The opinion says he is a condemned prisoner with a pending federal petition challenging his custody and is represented by counsel in state-court proceedings concerning that petition. The complaints were nearly identical. They named various state courts and federal judges and sought relief concerning Bonilla's underlying conviction or the handling of his other cases.

Filing-fee status and asserted barriers

The court said Bonilla had been disqualified from proceeding without paying the filing fee under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), unless he was facing an immediate danger of serious physical injury when he filed each complaint. The court found that the allegations did not show such danger at the time of filing.

The court further stated that, even if an application to proceed without paying the filing fee were granted, the lawsuits would be barred under the rules and precedents identified as Heck v. Humphrey, Younger v. Harris, Demos v. U.S. District Court, and Mullis v. U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The opinion also noted Bonilla's extensive history of filing similar cases.

Disposition

The court dismissed the cases with prejudice. It directed the clerk to terminate all pending motions and close the cases, and to return without filing any further documents Bonilla submitted in the closed cases. The court also rejected the suggestion that the judge's impartiality could reasonably be questioned because of the repetitive and frivolous filings. Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton signed the order.