Johnson v. Town of Onondaga
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:19-cv-11128
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Robert W. Johnson v. New York State Department of Transportation, Judge McMahon barred Johnson from filing future civil actions without permission.
Robert W. Johnson is barred from filing future civil actions in this court without first obtaining permission, unless he complies with the court’s leave procedure. The order also warns him that further frivolous filings may lead to additional sanctions.
What happened
In Robert W. Johnson v. New York State Department of Transportation, Johnson filed the case without a lawyer, and the court dismissed it without prejudice for improper venue. The court also ordered him to explain why it should not restrict his ability to file future cases without paying filing fees.
Johnson did not submit the required explanation. He appealed, but the Second Circuit dismissed the appeal after he failed to properly request permission to proceed without paying the appellate filing fee or pay the filing fee.
Judge Colleen McMahon barred Johnson from filing future civil actions without paying filing fees in this court unless he first obtains the court’s permission. The court also warned that further frivolous filings could lead to additional sanctions, including monetary penalties, and closed the case.
The detailed version
- Johnson v. Town of Onondaga · No. 1:19-cv-11128
- Colleen McMahon
- Apr. 1, 2021
Background
Robert W. Johnson filed this action without a lawyer on December 2, 2019. On January 27, 2020, the court dismissed the action without prejudice for lack of venue under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a). The court also noted that Johnson had filed numerous other cases in this and other federal district courts arising from a January 28, 2017 car accident in Buffalo, New York.
The court ordered Johnson to show cause—meaning to explain why the court should not impose a filing restriction—within thirty days. The proposed restriction would bar him from filing additional actions without paying the filing fee unless he first obtained the court’s permission. Johnson did not file the required declaration. Instead, he filed a notice of appeal on February 10, 2020.
Appeal and Filing Restriction
On February 3, 2021, Johnson moved to proceed without paying the filing fee on appeal. The Second Circuit notified him that the motion was defective and gave him until February 25, 2021, to correct it. Because he did not correct the defect, the Second Circuit dismissed the appeal by mandate dated March 10, 2021, for failure to properly request permission to proceed without paying the fee or pay the filing fee.
The district court stated that Johnson had not submitted a declaration presenting arguments against the proposed restriction. It therefore entered a bar order under 28 U.S.C. § 1651.
Ruling
The court barred Johnson from filing future civil actions in the Southern District of New York without paying the filing fee unless he first obtains leave from the court. Any request for leave must include a copy of the proposed complaint and a copy of the order, and must be filed with the court’s Pro Se Intake Unit. If Johnson files an action without first seeking leave, the court stated that it will dismiss the action for violating the order.
The court also warned that continued submission of frivolous documents may result in additional sanctions, including monetary penalties. The clerk was directed to close the action. The court certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied Johnson permission to proceed without paying the filing fee for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.