Miller v. Donald

541 F.3d 1091, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 18611, 2008 WL 3984054
Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit·Decided August 29, 2008·No. 06-10536·Published·Cited by 565 cases

Opinions

TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge:

Tracy Anthony Miller is an inmate in the Georgia prison system. He is a frequent litigant, as plaintiff, in the federal courts in Georgia. Since 1992, proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, he has filed at least thirty cases in district court and has taken nearly as many appeals to this court. The defendants in these cases are, for the most part, officials of the Georgia Department of Correction. In the case now before us, he has sued in the Southern District of Georgia the Commissioner of the Department of Correction and various Department officials (collectively “Commissioner”) under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, seeking relief for their continuous infringement of his rights under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. § 12131 et seq., and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794.

On receiving Miller’s complaint, the district court, acting sua sponte, took note of the law suits Miller previously has brought against Department of Correction officials, examined the complaint’s factual allegations and concluded that they were frivolous, and dismissed the complaint without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g).1 In its order of dismissal, the court, in an effort to curb Miller’s litigious activity, enjoined Miller from submitting further filings with the court, except in limited circumstances, without paying the unpaid filing fees he has accrued.2 Miller now appeals. We reverse the district court’s dismissal of Miller’s complaint, vacate the injunctive provision of the court’s order regarding future filings, and remand the case for further proceedings.

I

At the time he filed his complaint in this case, Miller was incarcerated in the Augusta State Medical Prison (“ASMP”). His complaint alleges in substance that the officials at ASMP failed to make adequate accommodations for his physical limitations. He is a paraplegic confined to a wheelchair, and as a result of his immobility, he was and continues to be subjected to physical harm. The officials also failed to make accommodations for his ailments. They essentially ignored his kidney condition, which requires catheter treatment and medication, and his chronic high blood pressure, which requires medication. As an example of the officials’ disregard of his physical condition, the complaint alleges that the officials confined him for twenty-four hours a day in a cell too small for his wheelchair to move and denied him acces[1095] sible toilets and urine catheters, thereby forcing him to lie in his own bodily waste.3

Miller lacked the means to pay the $250 fee for filing his complaint, so he sought leave to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915. Section 1915(g), as amended by the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“PLRA”), precludes a prisoner from “bringing] a civil action ... under this section if the prisoner has, on 3 or more prior occasions,” brought an action that was dismissed either as frivolous or because the complaint failed to state a claim for relief, “unless the prisoner is under imminent danger of serious physical injury.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). It is undisputed that Miller has had enough cases dismissed to fall under this so-called three-strikes provision. See Miller v. Brown, CV 604-100, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28397, at *3 (S.D.Ga. Sept. 15, 2004) (listing Miller’s qualifying prior cases). In this case, Miller argues that his allegations of imminent physical danger from continuing mistreatment qualifies him for the § 1915(g) “imminent danger” exception.

The district court did not overlook Miller’s argument that it should entertain his law suit because it fell within the imminent danger exception. After reviewing the eases Miller had previously filed challenging conditions of his confinement in Georgia’s prison system, however, the court concluded that Miller was “attempting to use claims of ‘imminent danger’ as a means to force a shotgun blast of other frivolous and duplicative claims into court.” The court observed that allegations of the complaint were nearly identical to the allegations Miller had brought against other Georgia prison officials. Two of those cases, Miller v. King, 449 F.3d 1149 (11th Cir.2006) and Miller v. Pryor, CV 505-029 (M.D.Ga. Aug. 11, 2005), had advanced beyond the screening phase, had bypassed the § 1915(g) bar, and were still pending. Although King and Pryor concern the conditions at Georgia State Prison and Men’s State Prison, respectively, the court determined that Miller’s allegations were dupli-cative of his complaints in King and Pryor.

The provision of the district court’s dismissal order that enjoined Miller’s filing activity was drawn from a practice invoked from time to time by the Southern District of Georgia to curb filing abuses in prisoner cases. With three narrow exceptions, a prisoner is prohibited from filing any new papers with the court under § 1915(g) until he has paid all accrued filing fees. The exceptions are that a prisoner may file (1) papers in a criminal proceedings brought against him by the state, (2) a timely motion for reconsideration of the filing bar as applied, and (3) a pleading or paper demonstrating that he has been denied access to state court and has no recourse except to repair to the district court. Noticeably absent from this list of exceptions is a complaint alleging that the prisoner is under imminent danger of serious physical injury.

II

Our first task in this appeal is to consider the appropriateness of the filing injunction and then to consider the dismissal of Miller’s complaint as frivolous. [1096] We review the injunctive provision under the abuse of discretion standard. See Klay v. United Healthgroup, Inc., 376 F.3d 1092, 1096 (11th Cir.2004).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Miller v. Donald, 541 F.3d 1091, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 18611, 2008 WL 3984054 (11th Cir. 2008).

541 F.3d 1091 (Miller v. Donald) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related