Michael L. Overton v. Social Security Administration; Veteran’s Administration; R.J. Donovan

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedDecember 19, 2025
Docket3:25-cv-03444
StatusUnknown

This text of Michael L. Overton v. Social Security Administration; Veteran’s Administration; R.J. Donovan (Michael L. Overton v. Social Security Administration; Veteran’s Administration; R.J. Donovan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Michael L. Overton v. Social Security Administration; Veteran’s Administration; R.J. Donovan, (S.D. Cal. 2025).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MICHAEL L. OVERTON, Case No. 25-CV-3444 JLS (DEB) CDCR #C-47370, 12 ORDER (1) DENYING LEAVE TO Plaintiff, 13 PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS vs. AS BARRED BY 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) 14 AND

15 SOCIAL SECURITY (2) DISMISSING CIVIL ACTION 16 ADMINISTRATION; VETERAN’S FOR FAILURE TO PAY FILING ADMINISTRATION; R.J. DONOVAN; 17 FEES REQUIRED BY WARDEN DOE, 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) 18 Defendants. 19 (ECF. No. 2) 20 Plaintiff Michael L. Overton, a prisoner at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility 21 (“RJD”) in San Diego, who claims to be a licensed attorney in California and New York, 22 and a professor at Harvard University, is proceeding without counsel in this civil rights 23 action filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985, and the Federal Tort Claims Act. See 24 ECF No. 1 (“Compl.”) at 1, 2. Plaintiff’s claims are far from clear, but as best the Court 25 can discern, he seeks to recover social security benefits he believes were unlawfully denied 26 or stolen from him after he was convicted in 1981 and later claimed by his deceased or 27 “reincarnated” wife in 1997. Id. at 2–3, 6, 8. 28 Plaintiff did not pay the filing fee required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) to commence a 1 civil action at the time he filed his Complaint. Instead, he submitted certified copies of his 2 RJD prison trust account statements for the six-months preceding the filing of this action, 3 which the Court liberally construes as a request to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”) 4 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See ECF No. 2. But because Plaintiff has a decades-long 5 history of filing frivolous suits and does not plausibly allege to be in imminent danger, the 6 Court DENIES him leave to proceed IFP and DISMISSES his case. 7 I. IFP MOTION 8 A. Legal Standard 9 When someone files a lawsuit (other than a writ of habeas corpus) in a federal district 10 court, the filer must pay a statutory fee of $350. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a).1 Absent fee 11 payment, the action may proceed only if the filer seeks, and the court grants him, leave to 12 IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th 13 Cir. 2007) (“Cervantes”). “All persons, not just prisoners, may seek IFP status.” Moore 14 v. Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, 657 F.3d 890, 892 (9th Cir. 2011). Prisoners like 15 Plaintiff, however, “face an additional hurdle.” Id. 16 “To help staunch a ‘flood of non-meritorious’ prisoner litigation, the Prison 17 Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PLRA) established what has become known as the three- 18 strikes rule.” Lomax v. Ortiz-Marquez, 140 S. Ct. 1721, 1723 (2020) (quoting Jones v. 19 Bock, 549 U.S. 199, 203 (2007)). “That rule generally prevents a prisoner from bringing 20 suit in forma pauperis (IFP)—that is, without first paying the filing fee—if he has had three 21 or more prior suits ‘dismissed on the grounds that [they were] frivolous, malicious, or 22 fail[ed] to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.’” Id. (quoting 28 U.S.C. 23 § 1915(g)); see also Ray v. Lara, 31 F.4th 692, 697 (9th Cir. 2022). 24 When courts “review a dismissal to determine whether it counts as a strike, the style 25 26 27 1 The court charges an additional $55 administrative fee, but “[t]his fee does not apply to … persons granted in forma pauperis status under 28 U.S.C. § 1915.” 28 U.S.C. § 1914 (Jud. Conf. Schedule of 28 1 of the dismissal or the procedural posture is immaterial. See Harris v. Mangum, 863 F.3d 2 1133, 1142 (9th Cir. 2017) (“[I]t does not matter whether [plaintiff] might have stated a 3 claim. What matters is that he did not do so.”). The “central question is whether the 4 dismissal ‘rang the PLRA bells of frivolous, malicious, or failure to state a claim.’” El- 5 Shaddai v. Zamora, 833 F.3d 1036, 1042 (9th Cir. 2016) (quoting Blakely v. Wards, 738 6 F.3d 607, 615 (4th Cir. 2013)). In other words, “[a] strike-call under Section 1915(g) . . . 7 hinges exclusively on the basis for the dismissal, regardless of the decision’s prejudicial 8 effect.” Lomax, 140 S. Ct. at 1724–25. 9 “[T]o qualify as a strike for § 1915(g), a case as a whole, not just some of its 10 individual claims, must be dismissed for a qualifying reason.” Hoffman v. Pulido, 928 F.3d 11 1147, 1152 (9th Cir. 2019) (citing Washington v. Los Angeles Cnty. Sheriff’s Dep’t, 833 12 F.3d 1048, 1057 (9th Cir. 2016)). “[I]f a case was not dismissed on one of the specific 13 enumerated grounds, it does not count as a strike under § 1915(g).” Harris v. Harris, 935 14 F.3d 670, 673 (9th Cir. 2019). Once a prisoner accumulates three strikes, however, 15 § 1915(g) precludes his ability to proceed IFP in any other civil actions or appeals in federal 16 court unless he “makes a plausible allegation that [he] faced ‘imminent danger of serious 17 physical injury’ at the time of filing.” Cervantes, 493 F.3d at 1051‒52 (quoting 28 U.S.C. 18 § 1915(g)). 19 B. Analysis 20 Defendants typically carry the initial burden to produce evidence demonstrating a 21 prisoner is not entitled to proceed IFP, but “in some instances, the district court docket 22 records may be sufficient to show that a prior dismissal satisfies at least one on the criteria 23 under § 1915(g) and therefore counts as a strike.” Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1120 24 (9th Cir. 2005). This is one of those instances. A review of both district court and appellate 25 dockets publicly available on PACER show Plaintiff is no longer eligible to proceed IFP 26 because while incarcerated, he has had at least a dozen prior prisoner civil actions 27 dismissed on the grounds that they were frivolous, malicious, or failed to state a claim upon 28 which relief may be granted. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 201(b)(2), the Court 1 may take judicial notice of the docket records in Plaintiff’s prior cases. See Andrews, 398 2 F.3d at 1120; United States v. Raygoza-Garcia, 902 F.3d 994, 1001 (9th Cir. 2018) (“A 3 court may take judicial notice of undisputed matters of public record, which may include 4 court records available through PACER.”). 5 The following records are sufficient to show Plaintiff has twelve qualifying strikes: 6 1. Overton v. Stockton Valley S&L, Case No. 2:04-cv-1874-MCE-DAD (E.D. Cal. Nov.

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Bluebook (online)
Michael L. Overton v. Social Security Administration; Veteran’s Administration; R.J. Donovan, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/michael-l-overton-v-social-security-administration-veterans-casd-2025.