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Article • April 1, 2025 • from PLN April, 2025
Sixth Circuit: Dismissals of Mixed-Claim Complaints Not Strikes Under PLRA by Since the 1996 passage of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 42 U.S.C. § 1997e, federal courts have struggled to interpret and apply its various provisions. That struggle continues today with a recent ruling by the United States Court of …
Article • September 15, 2024 • from PLN September, 2024
Fifth Circuit Calls Denial of Texas Prisoner’s In Forma Pauperis Request “Arbitrary or Erroneous” by When Texas prisoner Larry Donnell Gibbs filed suit in federal court in 2021 against officials with the state Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), he paid the filing fee and did not ask to proceed in …
Article • August 15, 2024 • from PLN August, 2024
Fourth Circuit Chides Virginia Magistrate for Assuming Prisoners Proceed IFP by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held on November 15, 2023, that a lower court erred in assuming that a group of Virginia prisoners proceeded in forma pauperis (IFP) when they …
Article • May 1, 2024 • from PLN May, 2024
Ninth Circuit Refunds Filing Fee to “Struck-Out” California Prisoner Denied Indigent Status Under PLRA by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On October 11, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit determined it was illegal to collect court filing fees from a prisoner denied indigent status to proceed …
Article • May 1, 2024 • from PLN May, 2024
Seventh Circuit Lets Illinois Prisoner Proceed In Forma Pauperis, Despite Trust Account Balance Exceeding Filing Fee by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney On October 10, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued an opinion offering guidance to judges deciding whether to grant a prisoner’s motions to …
Article • April 1, 2024 • from PLN April, 2024
Eleventh Circuit Calls Georgia Prisoner’s Dismissed Suit Outside PLRA “Strike Zone” by by David M. Reutter In an en banc ruling on February 1, 2023, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that a Georgia prisoner’s case dismissed for failure to exhaust administrative remedies might amount …
Article • February 1, 2024 • from PLN February, 2024
Fifth Circuit Says Both Texas Prisoner’s Dismissed Suit and His Lost Appeal Count as “Strikes” by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney On July 10, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit dismissed Texas prisoner Anthony Prescott’s appeal, once again explaining the requirement of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) that …
Eleventh Circuit Says Florida Prisoner’s Dismissed Complaint Doesn’t Count as a “Strike” by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On May 11, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that the moment a prisoner files a motion to dismiss his federal civil rights suit, a district …
Article • November 15, 2023 • from PLN November, 2023
Eleventh Circuit Says Florida Prisoner Who Dismissed Complaint Cannot Be Assessed a “Strike” Under PLRA by Matthew Clarke by Matthew Clarke The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 42 U.S.C. § 1997e, raises several barriers for prisoner litigants, not least being a “three strikes” provision that prevents indigent prisoners from having …
Article • November 15, 2023 • from PLN November, 2023
Fourth Circuit: Dismissal of South Carolina Prisoner’s Complaint Cannot Prematurely Be Called a “Strike” Under PLRA by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney On April 13, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that a district court cannot dismiss a prisoner’s complaint and at the same time …
Article • January 1, 2023 • from PLN January, 2023
Fifth Circuit Holds PLRA’s ‘Three-Strikes’ Provision Does Not Apply to Actions Removed From State Court by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On June 9, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that prisoners claiming indigent status in a federal civil rights suit are not barred by …
Article • October 1, 2021 • from PLN October, 2021
Eleventh Circuit Grants Prisoner with Hep C Exception to PLRA Three Strikes Rule by The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, in an unpublished decision, held a prisoner who had symptoms of fibrosis from Hepatitis C (HCV) and claimed prison officials refused to treat him was sufficient to satisfy that he …
Article • September 1, 2020 • from PLN September, 2020
Supreme Court Affirms Lower-Court Dismissal of Colorado Prisoner In Forma Pauperis Actions by Derek Gilna by Derek Gilna The Prisoner Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) of 1995 barred prisoners from filing a new lawsuit “in forma pauperis (IFP),” or without payment of a filing fee, if the prisoner had previously had …
Article • October 13, 2019
Sixth Circuit Defines ‘Serious Physical Injury’ for 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) Purposes by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has defined the term “serious physical injury” in the text of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). Michael Gresham is a state prisoner serving a …