Pickering-George v. Commissioner of Social Security
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-08597
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Pickering-George v. Commissioner, Judge McMahon denied new motions and barred further filings here except documents for the Second Circuit.
John Thomas Pickering-George is barred from filing further documents in this case except documents directed to the Second Circuit; the Clerk of Court must discard other filings, and Pickering-George may not proceed without paying filing fees for an appeal from this order.
What happened
In Pickering-George v. Commissioner of Social Security, the court had previously dismissed the action because John Thomas Pickering-George did not obtain required permission before filing a new action. The court had also denied his request to reconsider that dismissal and warned that it would accept only documents directed to the Second Circuit.
Pickering-George later filed motions seeking a direct verdict and judgment as a matter of law, along with a supporting declaration. The court said the action was already dismissed and closed, and that the new filings continued his pattern of vexatious litigation.
Judge McMahon denied the requests, barred Pickering-George from filing further documents in this case except documents directed to the Second Circuit, and ordered the Clerk to discard other filings. The court also denied him permission to proceed without paying filing fees on an appeal, certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Pickering-George v. Commissioner of Social Security · No. 1:20-cv-08597
- Colleen McMahon
- Sept. 20, 2022
Background
An earlier order barred John Thomas Pickering-George from filing any new action without first obtaining the court's permission to proceed without paying filing fees. In a prior related proceeding seeking review of a Social Security benefits decision, the court remanded the matter to the Commissioner for further administrative proceedings. After Pickering-George continued submitting numerous filings, the court directed that further filings in that proceeding would not be considered and explained that any challenge to a later Commissioner decision had to be brought in a new civil action.
In October 2020, the court opened Pickering-George's submission as this new action but dismissed the complaint because he had not obtained the required permission before filing. In January 2021, the court treated later submissions as requests to change or reconsider the judgment and, alternatively, as requests for relief from the judgment or order. The court denied those requests. It also limited future filings in the case to documents directed to the Second Circuit and later barred further filings after finding that Pickering-George had not shown why the filing bar should not issue.
September 2022 Filings and Ruling
Pickering-George filed motions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50 seeking a direct verdict and judgment as a matter of law, a notice of motion, and a supporting declaration. The court denied these requests because it had already dismissed the action and denied reconsideration. It stated that the new submissions continued Pickering-George's pattern of vexatious litigation.
The court barred Pickering-George from filing any further documents in this case except documents directed to the Second Circuit. It directed the Clerk to discard other documents received from him for filing in this case. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees. The order did not decide the merits of the underlying Social Security benefits dispute.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.