Pickering-George v. Carter
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-10567
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Pickering-George v. Carter, Judge Swain denied permission to file without prepaying the fee and dismissed the action without prejudice under an earlier bar order.
John T. Pickering-George’s new action and his request to file it without prepaying the filing fee; the named defendants were Joslyn Carter and Shemella Lovell.
What happened
In Pickering-George v. Carter, John T. Pickering-George, representing himself, filed a new complaint against Joslyn Carter and Shemella Lovell. An earlier court order barred him from filing new actions without first obtaining permission to proceed without prepaying filing fees.
The court found that the complaint did not depart from his pattern of frivolous litigation and contained no allegations suggesting viable claims within the court’s jurisdiction. It denied his request for permission to file without prepaying the fee and dismissed the action without prejudice under the earlier bar order.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying filing fees. She directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment.
The detailed version
- Pickering-George v. Carter · No. 1:22-cv-10567
- Laura Swain
- Dec. 16, 2022
Background
John T. Pickering-George, proceeding without a lawyer, sued Joslyn Carter, identified as the Administrator and Head of the New York City Department of Homeless Service Chain Administration Command, and Shemella Lovell, identified as a Senior Director. The complaint also attempted, in part, to prosecute criminal charges against the defendants.
An order entered in 2008 barred Pickering-George from filing any new action without first obtaining the court’s permission to proceed without prepaying filing fees. He filed this complaint along with a motion seeking that permission. The opinion states that he did not prepay the filing fee and submitted a separate application concerning proceeding without prepaying fees on appeal.
Court’s Analysis
The court stated that the only reason Pickering-George gave for allowing the filing was that the defendants would not be prejudiced. After reviewing the complaint, the court found that it was not a departure from his pattern of frivolous litigation. The court also found no allegations suggesting that he could state a viable claim against the named defendants within the court’s jurisdiction.
Ruling
The court denied Pickering-George’s request for permission to file the new action without prepaying the filing fee and dismissed the action without prejudice under the bar order entered in the earlier case identified by docket number 08-CV-5112. “Without prejudice” means the dismissal itself did not bar refiling, although the earlier bar order continued to govern the filing.
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying filing fees. Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.