Phelps v. United States
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-00318
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Phelps v. United States, Judge Swain denied IFP and dismissed the action without prejudice under the prisoner three-strikes rule.
Darryl Anthony Phelps’s ability to file this action without paying the filing fee, and his ability to file future federal civil actions without paying fees while he remains a prisoner, were affected. The order did not decide the merits of his underlying claims.
What happened
In Phelps v. United States, Darryl Anthony Phelps, representing himself while held at the Vernon C. Bain Center, asked to file his federal lawsuit without paying filing fees. He appeared to challenge his arrest, prosecution, and an alleged police assault, and also referred to admiralty and federal criminal law.
The court ruled that Phelps was barred by the prisoner three-strikes rule from filing a new federal civil action without paying fees. The court found that his complaint did not show that he faced an immediate danger of serious physical injury when he filed it. The court therefore did not decide whether his underlying claims were valid.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain denied Phelps’s request to proceed without paying fees and dismissed the action without prejudice under the filing bar. The court also denied fee-free status for any appeal and directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment.
The detailed version
- Phelps v. United States · No. 1:23-cv-00318
- Laura Swain
- Jan. 24, 2023
Background
Darryl Anthony Phelps brought this action while he was held at the Vernon C. Bain Center. He represented himself and asked to proceed without paying the filing fee, a status commonly called proceeding without prepayment of fees.
The opinion says Phelps appeared to assert claims related to his arrest and later prosecution in New York Supreme Court, New York County. He also appeared to claim that police assaulted him during the arrest and that he was hospitalized afterward. The complaint additionally seemed to assert claims under admiralty law and federal criminal law. The court did not resolve the validity of those underlying claims.
Three-strikes filing bar
The Prison Litigation Reform Act prevents a prisoner from bringing a new federal civil action without paying the filing fee if the prisoner previously had three or more federal actions or appeals dismissed as frivolous, malicious, or for failure to state a claim. The exception is when the prisoner is under imminent danger of serious physical injury. The court noted that a 2012 order had already recognized that Phelps was subject to this filing bar while he was a prisoner.
The court concluded that Phelps’s complaint did not show imminent danger at the time it was filed. The alleged assault and other events occurred between December 27, 2021, and January 2022, while the court received the complaint on January 12, 2023. The court therefore found that the imminent-danger exception did not apply.
Ruling
The court denied Phelps’s request to proceed without prepaying the filing fee and dismissed the action without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). The order states that Phelps may start a new federal civil action by paying the required fees; any such complaint would then be reviewed under the prisoner-screening statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1915A.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The court directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.