Pettus v. Thompson

Background

James Pettus filed this civil action without a lawyer. The opinion states that he was not currently incarcerated and asked to proceed in forma pauperis, meaning without paying the filing fee. The defendants are Colette Thompson and others.

The court referred to an earlier judgment, dated February 4, 2005, that barred Pettus, when he was not a prisoner, from filing future civil actions in this court without first obtaining the court’s permission. The opinion also states that the earlier judgment recognized a separate restriction under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) on Pettus filing federal civil actions without paying the filing fee while he was a prisoner, unless he faced an imminent danger of serious physical injury.

Ruling

Pettus filed this new action and requested permission to proceed without paying the filing fee, but he did not request permission to file the action under the earlier judgment. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1651, the court dismissed this action without prejudice because Pettus failed to comply with that judgment. “Without prejudice” means the order itself does not bar a later filing, although the earlier filing restriction remains relevant.

The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying the filing fee for an appeal. The court directed the clerk to enter a judgment dismissing the action for the stated reason. The opinion does not address the merits of Pettus’s claims against the defendants.

Classification

This is a procedural order because the court dismissed the action for failure to comply with a prior filing restriction rather than deciding the underlying claims.

Date note

The supplied case information lists a filing date of July 21, 2025, while the signed order is dated July 8, 2025. This summary uses the order’s signed date in the metadata header.