Jean-Louis v. New York City Mayor
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-09580
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Joe Jean-Louis v. New York City Mayor, Chief Judge Swain denied Jean-Louis’s request to proceed without paying fees and dismissed the action without prejudice under the prisoner three-strikes rule.
Joe Jean-Louis’s ability to pursue this action without paying filing fees was affected. While he remains a prisoner, the three-strikes rule continues to bar him from proceeding without paying fees in future federal civil actions unless he shows imminent danger of serious physical injury.
What happened
Joe Jean-Louis brought this case against the New York City Mayor while he was held at Rikers Island and had not paid the filing fees. He was representing himself, and the court treated his filings as requesting permission to proceed without paying those fees.
The court said the prisoner three-strikes rule barred Jean-Louis from proceeding without paying fees unless he showed that he faced an imminent danger of serious physical injury when he filed the complaint. His complaint appeared to allege that the Mayor was negligent for not building underground nuclear fallout shelters and not conducting emergency evacuation drills, but it did not show that kind of immediate danger.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain denied Jean-Louis’s request to proceed without paying fees and dismissed the action without prejudice. The court said he could begin a new federal case by paying the required fees, and it also denied permission to appeal without paying fees because the appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Jean-Louis v. New York City Mayor · No. 1:24-cv-09580
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 10, 2025
Background
Joe Jean-Louis filed this federal action while held at the North Infirmary Command on Rikers Island. He was representing himself. He did not submit an application to proceed without paying filing fees or the required prisoner authorization, and he did not pay the filing fees. The court therefore understood him to be seeking permission to proceed without paying those fees.
The complaint appeared to assert claims against the New York City Mayor based on alleged negligence in failing to build underground nuclear fallout shelters and conduct emergency evacuation disaster drills.
Three-Strikes Filing Bar
The Prison Litigation Reform Act bars a prisoner from bringing a federal civil action without paying filing fees if the prisoner has had three or more earlier federal actions or appeals dismissed as frivolous, malicious, or for failing to state a claim. The exception is when the prisoner shows that he was under imminent danger of serious physical injury when he filed the complaint.
The court stated that Jean-Louis was already barred by this rule based on earlier related proceedings. It found that the complaint did not show that he faced imminent danger of serious physical injury at the time of filing.
Ruling
The court denied Jean-Louis’s request to proceed without paying filing fees and dismissed this action without prejudice under the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s three-strikes filing bar. The court explained that Jean-Louis could begin a new federal civil action by paying the required fees; that new action would then be subject to the required prisoner-complaint review.
The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying fees. Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment dismissing the action.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.