Bonilla v. Monterey County Superior Court

Background

Steven Wayne Bonilla, a state prisoner proceeding without a lawyer, filed multiple civil-rights complaints under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The opinion states that he is a condemned prisoner and has a separate federal petition concerning his imprisonment in the same court with appointed counsel. It also states that he is represented by counsel in state-court proceedings.

Bonilla's complaints presented nearly identical claims. They named various state courts and judges as defendants and sought relief concerning his underlying conviction or the way state and federal courts handled his other cases.

Rulings

The court stated that Bonilla had been disqualified from proceeding without paying the filing fee under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), unless he showed that he was in imminent danger of serious physical injury when he filed his complaints. The court found that the allegations did not show such danger. As a result, Bonilla could not proceed without paying the filing fee.

The court further stated that, even if an application to proceed without paying the filing fee were granted, the lawsuits would be barred under Heck v. Humphrey, Younger v. Harris, Demos v. U.S. District Court, or Mullis v. U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The opinion does not provide a separate analysis of which bar applied to which complaint.

Disposition

The court dismissed the cases with prejudice. It directed the clerk to terminate all pending motions and close the cases, and to return without filing any further documents Bonilla submitted in the closed cases. Judge Hamilton signed the order.