Court to abusive litigant: Pay filing fees or you’re done

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A Washington, D.C., man who has scribbled illegible, abusive lawsuits against presidents, Congress, celebrities and many others in federal courts around the country – sometimes seeking trillions of dollars – can’t do that anymore in the Southern District of Indiana without first paying filing fees, a judge has ruled.

“This case is frivolous and deserves no further judicial time,” District Judge William T. Lawrence wrote in dismissing Tyrone Hurt v. Ferguson, Missouri, Cleveland, Ohio, Baltimore, Maryland, all law enforcement officials within this nation et al, 1:15-cv-01054. “Mr. Hurt is prohibited from filing any new civil action in the Southern District of Indiana without the prepayment of the Four Hundred Dollar Filing Fee.”

In this complaint, Hurt sought various relief that appears to include $1 billion.

Lawrence wrote that Hurt, who also has filed pleadings under the last name Hunt, has filed nine frivolous cases in the Southern District in the last eight months. In no case has he paid the $400 filing fee. Hurt in 2008 was banned from filing in the federal District Court in Washington, which dismissed all his claims. He’s been barred from filing pleadings in numerous other federal District courts.

Hurt’s claims against the cities that have been the scene of protests over police killings likewise was dismissed as an abuse of the in forma pauperis privilege the court grants to filers who cannot afford filing fees. Hurt lost that privilege, Lawrence wrote, noting, “He also continues to owe all past filing dues.

“Any new complaint submitted without the appropriate filing fee shall be returned to Mr. Hurt unfilled,” the order says. Lawrence cited the D.C. district’s banning of Hurt’s pauper filings in which that court ruled, “If Hurt wishes to continue wasting this Court’s time … he should have to do it on his own dime.”

“The Court has before it hundreds of pending matters which properly invoke its jurisdiction and seek resolution of valid controversies. Mr. Hurt’s abusive patterns must come to an end. Mr. Hurt’s cases represent countless hours of judicial time that could be spent on cases which state viable claims,” Lawrence wrote.

Hurt is the second chronic, frivolous litigator the court has put on notice in recent months. In March, Judge Tanya Walton Pratt warned Homer Hoskins  to stop filing abusive suits after he filed 28 in one week.   

 

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