Austin v. Georgetown University

Background

George Jarvis Austin sued Georgetown University and others. In the operative complaint, Austin alleged that Georgetown, apparently acting together with District Judge Gonzalez Rogers, violated his privacy rights by using a photograph of him in marketing materials and discriminated against him when he tried to remedy the alleged privacy violation.

The defendants moved to have Austin declared a vexatious litigant. Austin opposed the motion.

Court’s analysis

The court relied on the All Writs Act, which permits federal courts to restrict abusive and lengthy litigation. Before issuing a prefiling order, the court was required to determine that Austin received notice and an opportunity to be heard, that the record was adequate for review, that the order was narrowly tailored to the problem identified, and that Austin’s litigation conduct was frivolous or harassing.

The court found that Austin received the required notice because the defendants filed their motion and Austin filed an opposition. The court also found an adequate record. It stated that Austin had filed 24 lawsuits in the district, including this case and two earlier cases against Georgetown with materially identical factual allegations. The court described similar repeated litigation against another entity and noted that Austin had attempted in this and other cases to sue federal judges who ruled against him. Most of Austin’s federal lawsuits had been dismissed by the court or voluntarily dismissed.

The court found the restriction sufficiently narrow because Austin had not limited his litigation to a particular statute or defendant. The order therefore was not limited to a specific statute or defendant. The court also found the underlying lawsuit frivolous because Austin had failed, for the third time, to allege facts supporting personal jurisdiction over Georgetown. The court characterized this as part of a pattern of harassing behavior and found no reason to believe Austin would stop filing frivolous lawsuits.

Ruling

The court declared George Jarvis Austin a vexatious litigant. Before filing any additional lawsuit without a lawyer in the Northern District of California, Austin must submit a copy of the complaint, a letter requesting permission to file it, and a copy of this order to the Clerk of Court. He may proceed only if the general-duty judge approves the filing.