Bonilla v. Napa County Superior Court

Background

Steven Wayne Bonilla, identified as a state prisoner and a condemned prisoner, filed multiple related complaints under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a federal statute allowing claims for certain violations of constitutional rights by state actors. The complaints were filed without a lawyer and presented nearly identical claims. Bonilla named dozens of federal and state judges and various state courts as defendants. The complaints sought relief concerning his underlying conviction or the way his other state and federal cases had been handled.

The order also noted that Bonilla had a pending federal petition challenging his custody in the same court with appointed counsel and was represented by counsel in state-court proceedings challenging his custody.

Fee-free filing and dismissal

To the extent Bonilla sought permission to proceed without paying the filing fee, the court held that 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) disqualified him from doing so unless he showed that he was under imminent danger of serious physical injury when he filed the complaint. The court found that the allegations did not show such imminent danger.

The court further stated that, even if Bonilla’s applications to proceed without paying the filing fee were granted, the lawsuits would be barred under the legal rules discussed in Heck v. Humphrey, Younger v. Harris, Demos v. U.S. District Court, and Mullis v. U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The court therefore dismissed the cases with prejudice. “With prejudice” means the dismissals bar refiling the same cases.

Impartiality and disposition

The court also concluded that these cases did not present a basis to question the undersigned judge’s impartiality merely because the filings were repetitive and frivolous. The order noted that Bonilla named the judge as a defendant in two of the cases but did not present a reason requiring recusal.

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