Fredrick v. Georgia Superior Clerks Cooperative Authority et al

Filing 13

ORDER granting 12 Motion to reopen case. Plaintiff must return the 1983 Prionser Civil Rights form and the Prisoner Trust Account Statement to the Clerk within 30 days of this Order. Signed by Magistrate Judge G. R. Smith on 3/20/17. (wwp)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
SAVANNAH DIVISION
DANTE G. FREDERICK,
Plaintiff,
v.
CV416-310
F. BARRY WILKES, J. WILLIAMS,
Defendants.

ORDER
Proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis (IFP), Dante Frederick
has filed this civil rights case against defendants Wilkes and Williams,
clerks for the Superior Court of Liberty County. Doc. 1. He alleges that
they have refused to docket a civil action that he submitted for filing in
that court. Id. His complaint, a mishmash of the Northern District’s
§ 1983 form complaint and his own handwritten creation, was dismissed
without prejudice 1 when he failed to comply with the Court’s order to file

1

As the Court noted in its December 2016 Order:
The federal courts have long made available to jails and prisons specific forms
for filing habeas and civil rights cases. In Williams v. Freesemann , 2015 WL
6798946 at * 1 n. 4 (S.D. Ga. Oct. 15, 2015), this Court noted that some

an amended complaint and Prisoner Trust Fund Statement. Doc. 9.
Construing plaintiff’s “motion for understanding” as a motion to reopen
his case, Dante Frederick’s motion is GRANTED . Doc. 12. Plaintiff will
be given one more opportunity to comply with the Court’s instructions.
Accordingly, plaintiff must resubmit his complaint on this Court’s
form within thirty days of the date this Order is served. Plaintiff is
therefore ORDERED to complete the attached Form to be Used by

Prisoners in Filing a Complaint Under the Civil Rights Act, 42
U.S.C. § 1983 , which requires that prisoner plaintiffs disclose:
(1) whether they have brought other federal lawsuits while incarcerated,
(2) whether they were allowed to proceed IFP in any such lawsuits, and
(3) whether any such suit was dismissed on the ground that it was
frivolous, malicious, or failed to state a claim. 2 Failure to comply with

inmate-litigants bypass those forms in favor of “home-brewed” filings.
Adverse factors can motivate that effort. The Court’s forms force inmates to
answer questions aimed at capturing things like 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) strikes
and repeat ( e.g. , successive writ) habeas filings. See, e.g. , Bright v. Corizon
Health Corp. , 2015 WL 9257155 at * 1 (S.D. Ga. Dec. 18, 2015) (“Bright’s
incentive to omit his prior case information is strong because of the § 1915(g)
three-strike bar.”). “Home-brewers” typically omit those prophylactic
questions from their filings.
Doc. 9 at 1-2.
2

This Court’s § 1983 complaint form, which is availed to all prisons and jails, see
http://www.gasd.uscourts.gov/pdf/prisoner1983.pdf, compels inmates to disclose prior
lawsuits. That data is necessary to enforce the “Three Strikes” rule illuminated in

2

this order within thirty days from the date this Order is served
will result in a recommendation that this case be dismissed.
Plaintiff must also furnish the enclosed Prisoner Trust Fund

Account Statement to the trust (financial) officer of each prison where
he has been confined for the past six months. The trust officer will
complete and sign the form and return the form and supporting
documents to plaintiff for submission to the Court. Two copies of the
form are enclosed for this purpose.
Plaintiff must return both the Form to be Used by Prisoners

in Filing a Complaint Under the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C.
§ 1983 , and the Prisoner Trust Account Statement to the Clerk
within 30 days of this Order, or his case will again be recommended for
dismissal.
Once Frederick has complied with the conditions of this Order, the

Owens v. Morales , 2015 WL 5040245 at * 1 (S.D. Ga. Aug. 25, 2015). See Boney v.
Hickey , 2014 WL 4103918 at * 4-5 (S.D. Fla. Aug. 15, 2014) (collecting cases that
discuss what constitutes a 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) strike, three of which can lead to a
substantial curtailment on an inmate's ability to proceed IFP).
Under the question concerning whether a prisoner plaintiff has brought any
lawsuits in federal court dealing with the facts other than those involved in this
action, plaintiff must specifically describe each such lawsuit, and if there is more than
one such lawsuit, the additional lawsuits must be described on another piece of
paper.

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Court will review his complaint to determine which, if any, claims are
viable and which, if any, defendants should be served with a copy of the
complaint. If no response is timely received from plaintiff, the Court will
presume that he desires to have this case voluntarily dismissed and will
dismiss this action without prejudice.
The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to serve along with a copy of
this Order (1) a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 form complaint; (2) a Prisoner Trust
Account Statement form; and (3) (pursuant to plaintiff’s request, as it is
“impossible to remember all [the] facts without look[ing] at filing
‘original’”) a copy of his original complaint (doc. 1). Doc. 12 at 3.
Plaintiff shall have 30 days from the service of this Order to fill out and
return both forms .

Failure to comply with this Order within thirty days will
result in the dismissal of plaintiff’s case, without prejudice.
SO ORDERED , this 20th day of March, 2017.

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

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