Owens v. Preska
- James Oetken
- 1:21-cv-05210
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Owens v. Preska, Judge Oetken denied Owens permission to file his action, rejected appeal-fee relief, and closed the case.
Alonzo Spencer Owens’s action was closed, and he was denied permission to file it and permission to proceed without paying court fees for an appeal. The order also affected any appeal by certifying that it would not be taken in good faith.
What happened
In Owens v. Preska, Alonzo Spencer Owens claimed that federal judge Loretta A. Preska violated his constitutional rights by enforcing a 2007 order requiring him to obtain permission before filing a new action. The order concerned a complaint Owens filed in 2015.
The court said these claims were frivolous and denied Owens’s request for permission to file. The court also directed the Clerk of Court to mail the order to Owens, record service, and close the case.
Judge J. Paul Oetken certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying court fees for an appeal. The court entered the order under 28 U.S.C. § 1651.
The detailed version
- Owens v. Preska · No. 1:21-cv-05210
- James Oetken
- June 21, 2021
Background
The opinion states that on November 5, 2007, Owens was barred from filing any new action without first obtaining permission from the court. Owens alleged that Preska, a federal judge, violated his constitutional rights by enforcing that filing restriction against a complaint he filed on June 5, 2015.
Court’s Ruling
The court characterized the claims as frivolous, like Owens’s earlier claims, and denied his request for permission to file. The order was issued under 28 U.S.C. § 1651, a federal statute that permits courts to issue orders necessary to manage proceedings and enforce their authority.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. As a result, the court denied permission to proceed without paying court fees for purposes of an appeal. The Clerk of Court was directed to mail Owens a copy of the order, note service on the docket, and close the case.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.