Burns v. Maher
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-08612
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Burns v. Maher, Judge Swain denied fee-free status and dismissed the action without prejudice under the federal prison law’s three-strikes rule.
George Burns’s action was dismissed without prejudice, and he remains barred from filing future federal civil actions without paying fees while imprisoned unless the imminent-danger exception applies. Detective Maher was not subjected to a merits ruling in this order.
What happened
Burns v. Maher involved George Burns, who was representing himself while held in the Westchester County Jail. He sued a Yonkers police detective, alleging that the detective selectively used video connected to Burns’s arrest and later criminal prosecution, and he sought damages and permission to proceed without paying filing fees.
The court said Burns had already been barred under the Prison Litigation Reform Act from bringing new federal civil cases without paying fees while incarcerated. His complaint did not show that he faced an immediate danger of serious physical injury when he filed it, so the exception to that bar did not apply.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain denied Burns’s request to proceed without paying fees and dismissed the action without prejudice under the law’s three-strikes rule. The court also denied fee-free status for any appeal and said Burns could start a new federal civil action by paying the required fees.
The detailed version
- Burns v. Maher · No. 1:24-cv-08612
- Laura Swain
- Jan. 10, 2025
Background
George Burns, who was being held in the Westchester County Jail, brought this civil-rights action without a lawyer against Detective Maher of the City of Yonkers Police Department. Burns alleged that the detective “cherry-picked” video footage obtained in connection with Burns’s May 14, 2023 arrest and subsequent criminal prosecution. Burns sought damages and asked to proceed without paying the filing fee, a status commonly called proceeding without prepayment of fees.
Reasoning
The court applied the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s “three-strikes” rule, 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). That rule generally prevents a prisoner from bringing a federal civil action without paying the filing fee if the prisoner previously had three or more federal actions or appeals dismissed as frivolous, malicious, or legally insufficient. An exception applies when the prisoner is under imminent danger of serious physical injury at the time of filing.
The court stated that Burns had already been recognized as barred by this rule in an earlier round of related litigation. The court also found that Burns’s complaint did not show that he was under imminent danger of serious physical injury when he filed this action. The order therefore resolved Burns’s request to proceed without paying fees and did not decide whether his allegations about the video footage supported his civil-rights claim.
Disposition
The court denied Burns’s request to proceed without prepaying fees and dismissed the action without prejudice under § 1915(g). The court stated that Burns may commence a new federal civil action by paying the required fees, after which the complaint would be reviewed under the prisoner-screening statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1915A. Burns remains barred from filing future federal civil actions without paying fees while he is a prisoner unless he alleges imminent danger of serious physical injury at the time of filing.
The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The Clerk of Court was directed to enter judgment dismissing the action.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.