Bonilla v. Pacific Bell Telephone Company

Background

Steven Wayne Bonilla, identified as a state prisoner and a condemned prisoner, filed multiple civil-rights complaints under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 without a lawyer. The defendants included various federal and state court judges and several municipalities. The court said the complaints presented very similar claims concerning Bonilla’s underlying conviction and the handling of his other petitions and cases. The opinion also noted that Bonilla had a pending federal petition challenging his custody with appointed counsel and was represented by counsel in state-court proceedings.

Court’s reasoning

Bonilla sought, or might have sought, permission to proceed without paying the filing fee. The court held that 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) disqualified him from proceeding without payment unless he showed that he was in immediate danger of serious physical injury when he filed the complaints. The allegations did not show that kind of danger, so he could not proceed without paying.

The court further stated that, even if an application to proceed without paying were granted, the lawsuits would be barred under rules and precedents concerning challenges to criminal convictions, interference with ongoing state proceedings, claims not properly brought in federal court, and protection for judges and courts from such claims. The court also stated that the cases were not ones in which the deciding judge’s impartiality could reasonably be questioned because of Bonilla’s repetitive and frivolous filings.

Disposition

Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton dismissed the cases with prejudice. The clerk was ordered to terminate all pending motions and close the cases, and to return without filing any further documents Bonilla submitted in the closed cases.

Uncertainty

The supplied case name identifies Pacific Bell Telephone Company, but that entity does not appear in the opinion’s caption or text. The summary therefore uses the caption shown in the opinion.