Combs v. United States of America
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-07244
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Combs v. United States of America, Chief Judge Swain denied IFP status and dismissed the action without prejudice under the federal three-strikes rule.
Marita Talley Combs, a prisoner seeking to proceed without paying the filing fee. The order bars her from proceeding without paying the fee in future federal civil actions while she is imprisoned, unless she is under imminent danger of serious physical injury.
What happened
In Combs v. United States of America, Marita Talley Combs, a prisoner representing herself, asked to proceed without paying the filing fee. The court had previously found that she had filed at least three federal civil cases or appeals dismissed as frivolous, malicious, or legally insufficient.
The court ordered Combs to explain why the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s three-strikes rule should not prevent her from proceeding without paying the fee. She did not submit the required explanation by the deadline.
The court recognized that Combs was barred from proceeding without paying the fee while imprisoned, unless she faced an immediate risk of serious physical injury. Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain denied her fee-waiver application, dismissed the action without prejudice, denied fee-waiver status for any appeal, and directed the clerk to enter judgment.
The detailed version
- Combs v. United States of America · No. 1:22-cv-07244
- Laura Swain
- Jan. 18, 2023
Background
Marita Talley Combs, who was imprisoned and proceeding without a lawyer, filed the action and asked to proceed without paying the filing fee. On September 28, 2022, the court noted that, while Combs had been a prisoner, she had filed three or more federal civil actions or appeals that were dismissed as frivolous, malicious, or for failure to state a legally sufficient claim.
The court ordered Combs to submit a declaration within 30 days explaining why it should not apply the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s “three-strikes” provision, 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). Combs did not file the required declaration within the time allowed.
Ruling
The court recognized Combs as barred under § 1915(g) from proceeding without paying the filing fee while she is a prisoner. The statute permits such a prisoner to proceed without paying only when the prisoner is under imminent danger of serious physical injury.
Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain denied Combs’s application to proceed without paying the filing fee and dismissed the action without prejudice. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for purposes of an appeal. It directed the clerk to enter judgment.
The court warned that submitting frivolous documents could lead to additional sanctions, including monetary penalties. The order states that Combs may start a new federal civil action by paying the filing fees; any new prisoner civil-rights complaint would then be reviewed under the statutory screening process in 28 U.S.C. § 1915A.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.