Dyer v. Spears

Background

Jewel Evern Dyer, an inmate in the Mendocino County Jail, filed a civil-rights complaint against Joyce Spears and Timothy Pearce. Dyer applied to proceed without paying the filing fee, a status commonly called proceeding in forma pauperis.

The court ordered Dyer to explain why the filing-fee application should not be denied under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). That provision generally bars a prisoner from proceeding without paying the fee after three prior cases or appeals were dismissed as frivolous, malicious, or for failing to state a claim, unless the prisoner was in imminent danger of serious physical injury when the new case was filed. The court identified three prior Dyer cases that it said qualified as dismissals, or “strikes,” under that provision. Dyer did not dispute having three or more strikes.

Imminent-danger exception

Dyer argued that the exception applied because jail water was “destroying his stomach” and had caused “artificial lactose intolerance (& permanent anal leakings).” The court found that the artificial-lactose-intolerance allegation was implausible, that the allegation about the water destroying Dyer’s stomach was vague and conclusory, and that the reference to permanent anal leakings was unclear and unexplained. The court likewise found insufficient factual support for allegations that the water caused lactose intolerance and gut or stomach problems.

The court also applied a two-part test requiring a connection between the alleged imminent danger and the claims in the complaint. The court said Dyer’s alleged stomach problems appeared fairly traceable to the claimed unlawful conditions, but concluded that the requested relief would not redress those injuries. In particular, the court found that declaratory relief, money damages, or fixing the showers would not change the water Dyer drank. The court also stated that release from custody was not an available remedy in a civil-rights action and instead must be sought through a federal petition challenging the confinement.

Rulings

The court concluded that Dyer had not shown an imminent danger of serious physical injury when the complaint was filed and, in any event, had not shown the required connection between the alleged danger and the claims. It therefore denied the application to proceed without paying the filing fee under Section 1915(g) and dismissed the case without prejudice to refiling the claims in a new case if Dyer pays the filing fee.

Because the case was dismissed without prejudice to refiling after payment of the filing fee, the court denied Dyer’s motions to amend the complaint, including the request to amend a proposed amended complaint. The court denied the motions to appoint counsel, concluding that appointment was not warranted because Dyer was not eligible to proceed without paying the fee and the case was being dismissed without prejudice. The court denied as moot the motion to change the time for screening the amended complaint. The clerk was directed to enter judgment, close the file, and send Dyer two copies of the court’s photocopy-request form.