Jean-Louis v. Adams

Background

Joseph Jean-Louis brought the action against Mayor Adams and requested permission to proceed without prepaying the filing fee. He represented himself. The opinion states that he was being treated at Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center and had indicated in his fee application that he was incarcerated.

The court relied on New York State court records showing that a criminal case against Jean-Louis remained pending and that, on March 9, 2023, the New York Supreme Court had ordered his temporary treatment and/or assessment in a mental hospital. Based on the apparent date when Jean-Louis delivered his complaint for mailing, the court determined that he was a “prisoner” under the Prison Litigation Reform Act when he filed this action. The court also relied on decisions in prior related proceedings that had determined Jean-Louis was barred by the Act’s three-strikes rule.

Three-Strikes Rule

The three-strikes rule, 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), generally prevents a prisoner from bringing a federal civil action without prepaying the filing fee if the prisoner previously had three or more federal actions or appeals dismissed as frivolous, malicious, or legally insufficient. An exception applies when the prisoner faces an imminent danger of serious physical injury—meaning a danger existing when the complaint is filed.

The court found that Jean-Louis’s complaint did not show that he faced such an imminent danger. Instead, the complaint appeared to assert claims based on Mayor Adams’s alleged negligence in failing to build an underground nuclear fallout shelter at the 42nd Street subway station.

Ruling

Judge Laura Taylor Swain denied Jean-Louis’s request to proceed without prepaying the filing fee and dismissed the complaint without prejudice under the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s three-strikes filing bar. The opinion states that Jean-Louis remains barred from filing future federal civil actions without prepaying fees while he is a prisoner, unless he is under an imminent threat of serious physical injury. The court noted that he may commence a new action by paying the filing fees, after which the complaint would be reviewed under the prisoner-screening statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1915A.

The court certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. It directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment dismissing the action.