Tidwell v. Kink et al

Filing 4

ORDER CLOSING CASE: Plaintiff is restricted from filing in this judicial district and therefore, pursuant to the filing ban, the Court DIRECTS the Clerk to ADMINISTRATEVLY CLOSE this case. No filing fee shall be assessed for this action. However, th e Court WARNS Plaintiff that future attempts to avoid the subject filing ban may result in additional sanctions and imposition of a filing fee, all in addition to the sanctions already imposed and to be paid before the filing ban is lifted. Signed by Judge David R. Herndon on 4/17/2018. (tjk)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
Cleother Tidwell,
N41754,
Plaintiff,

Case No. 18-cv-959-DRH

vs.
KW KINK, et al.,
Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
HERNDON, District Judge:
Plaintiff Cleother Tidwell, currently incarcerated at Lawrence Correctional
Center (“Lawrence”), brings this pro se civil action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983
for constitutional deprivations that allegedly occurred at Lawrence.

Plaintiff

commenced this action on April 2, 2018 in the United States District Court for the
Western District of Louisiana.

Because venue was improper in the Western

District of Louisiana, the action was transferred to this judicial district pursuant
to 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a).

This matter is now before the Court for case

management.
Plaintiff is a restricted filer in this District, and would not have been
permitted to file his Complaint in this Court in the first instance. See Tidwell v.
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Menard C.C. et al., No. 3:16-cv-384-SMY-RJD (Doc. 43). The filing ban, issued on
August 10, 2017, provides as follows:
Cleother Tidwell is SANCTIONED with a $500 fine, to be paid before
any other civil litigation will be filed. This fine is in addition to any
other filing fees owed to this District. The Clerk of Court is
DIRECTED to return all civil pleadings unfiled until the sanction is
paid, and all habeas corpus filings will be summarily dismissed
thirty days after filing, unless otherwise ordered by the Court.
Documents submitted in connection with an appeal are excluded
from the sanction.
(16-cv-384-SMY-RJD, Doc. 43, p. 7).

Plaintiff appealed.

Clendenin, et al., Appellate Case. No. 17-3020.

See Tidwell v.

The Seventh Circuit denied

Plaintiff’s Motion for Leave to Appeal in Forma Pauperis, finding that Plaintiff
failed to identify a good faith issue that the district court erred in denying
[Plaintiff’s] motions and imposing sanctions and a filing ban. On January 10,
2018, Plaintiff’s appeal was dismissed for failure to pay the filing fee.
Plaintiff filed the instant case in the Western District of Louisiana, a district
with no connection to the claims or litigants involved in the instant action,
perhaps in an effort to avoid the subject filing ban. After all, as Plaintiff is well
aware, when he attempts to file papers in this district, where the Clerk’s Office is
familiar with his litigation history, the staff returns Plaintiff’s papers unfiled in
accord with the filing ban.
In the instant case, when the Western District of Louisiana transferred
Plaintiff’s action, the Clerk of the Court properly accepted the transfer and opened
a new case. It was proper for the Clerk to accept the transfer because a judge in
the transferor district signed an order transferring the case, and it is not for the
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Clerk of this Court to refuse to honor such a judicial order. See Hall v. Stone,
170 F.3d 706, 708 (7th Cir.1999) (“Even an invalid judicial order must be obeyed
until it is stayed or set aside on appeal.”)
Nevertheless, Plaintiff is restricted from filing in this judicial district and
therefore, pursuant to the filing ban, the Court DIRECTS the Clerk to
ADMINISTRATEVLY CLOSE this case. No filing fee shall be assessed for this
action. However, the Court WARNS Plaintiff that future attempts to avoid the
subject filing ban may result in additional sanctions and imposition of a filing fee,
all in addition to the sanctions already imposed and to be paid before the filing
ban is lifted.
IT IS SO ORDERED.

Judge Herndon
2018.04.17
12:38:52 -05'00'
United States District Judge

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