Coleman v. Tollefson

• Decision Date: 18 May 2015
• Docket Number: No. 13–1333.,13–1333.
• Citation: 191 L.Ed.2d 803,135 S.Ct. 1759,575 U.S. 532
• Parties: Andre Lee COLEMAN, aka Andre Lee Coleman–Bey, Petitioner v. Todd TOLLEFSON, et al. Andre Lee Coleman, aka Andre Lee Coleman–Bey, Petitioner v. Bertina Bowerman, et al. Andre Lee Coleman, aka Andre Lee Coleman–Bey, Petitioner v. Steven Dykehouse, et al. Andre Lee Coleman, aka Andre Lee Coleman–Bey, Petitioner v. Aaron J. Vroman, et al.
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

575 U.S. 532

135 S.Ct. 1759

191 L.Ed.2d 803

Andre Lee COLEMAN, aka Andre Lee Coleman–Bey, Petitioner

v.Todd TOLLEFSON, et al.

Andre Lee Coleman, aka Andre Lee Coleman–Bey, Petitioner

v.Bertina Bowerman, et al.

Andre Lee Coleman, aka Andre Lee Coleman–Bey, Petitioner

v.Steven Dykehouse, et al.

Andre Lee Coleman, aka Andre Lee Coleman–Bey, Petitioner

v.Aaron J. Vroman, et al.

No. 13–1333.

Supreme Court of the United States

Argued Feb. 23, 2015.

Decided May 18, 2015.

Kannon K. Shanmugam, Washington, DC, for Petitioner.

Aaron D. Lindstrom, Solicitor General, Lansing, Michigan, for Respondents.

Allon Kedem for the United States as amicus curiae, by special leave of the Court, supporting the Respondents.

Kannon K. Shanmugam, Counsel of Record, Allison B. Jones, Julia H. Pudlin, Barrett J. Anderson, Williams & Connolly LLP, Washington, DC, for Petitioner.

Kevin R. Himebaugh, Assistant Attorney General, Corrections Division, Bill Schuette, Michigan Attorney General, Aaron D. Lindstrom, Solicitor General, Counsel of Record, Lansing, Michigan, for Respondents.

Justice BREYER delivered the opinion of the Court.

Ordinarily, a federal litigant who is too poor to pay court fees may proceed in forma pauperis . This means that the litigant may commence a civil action without prepaying fees or paying certain expenses. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915. But a special "three strikes" provision prevents a court from affording in forma pauperis status where the litigant is a prisoner and he or she "has, on 3 or more prior occasions, while incarcerated ..., brought an action or appeal in a court of the United States that was dismissed on the grounds that it is frivolous, malicious, or fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted." § 1915(g).

Prior to this litigation, a Federal District Court had dismissed on those grounds three actions brought by a state prisoner. While the third dismissal was pending on appeal, the prisoner sought to bring several additional actions in the federal courts. The question before us is whether the prisoner may litigate his new actions in forma pauperis . Where an appeals court has not yet decided whether a prior dismissal is legally proper, should courts count, or should they ignore, that dismissal when calculating how many qualifying dismissals the litigant has suffered?

We conclude that the courts must count the dismissal even though it remains pending on appeal. The litigant here has accumulated three prior dismissals on statutorily enumerated grounds. Consequently, a court may not afford him in forma pauperis status with respect to his additional civil actions.

I

A

Congress first enacted an in forma pauperis statute in 1892. See Act of July 20, ch. 209, 27 Stat. 252. Congress recognized that "no citizen sh[ould] be denied an opportunity to commence, prosecute, or defend an action, civil or criminal, in any court of the United States, solely because his poverty makes it impossible for him to pay or secure the costs." Adkins v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., 335 U.S. 331, 342, 69 S.Ct. 85, 93 L.Ed. 43 (1948) (internal quotation marks omitted). It therefore permitted a citizen to "commence and prosecute to conclusion any such ... action without being required to prepay fees or costs, or give security therefor before or after bringing suit." § 1, 27 Stat. 252. The current statute permits an individual to litigate a federal action in forma pauperis if the individual files an affidavit stating, among other things, that he or she is unable to prepay fees "or give security therefor." 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1).

Even in 1892, "Congress recognized ... that a litigant whose filing fees and court costs are assumed by the public, unlike a paying litigant, lacks an economic incentive to refrain from filing frivolous, malicious, or repetitive lawsuits." Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 324, 109 S.Ct. 1827, 104 L.Ed.2d 338 (1989). And as the years passed, Congress came to see that prisoner suits in particular represented a disproportionate share of federal filings. Jones v. Bock, 549 U.S. 199, 202–203, 127 S.Ct. 910, 166 L.Ed.2d 798 (2007). It responded by "enact[ing] a variety of reforms designed to filter out the bad claims [filed by prisoners] and facilitate consideration of the good." Id., at 204, 127 S.Ct. 910. Among those reforms was the "three strikes" rule here at issue. The rule, which applies to in forma pauperis status, reads in its entirety as follows:

"In no event shall a prisoner bring a civil action or appeal a judgment in a civil action or proceeding [in forma pauperis ] if the prisoner has, on 3 or more prior occasions, while incarcerated or detained in any facility, brought an action or appeal in a court of the United States that was dismissed on the grounds that it is frivolous, malicious, or fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, unless the prisoner is under imminent danger of serious physical injury." § 1915(g).

B

The petitioner, André Lee Coleman, is incarcerated at the Baraga Correctional Facility in Michigan. By 2010, three federal lawsuits filed by Coleman during his incarceration had been dismissed as frivolous (or on other grounds enumerated in § 1915(g) ). Nonetheless, when Coleman filed four new federal lawsuits between April 2010 and January 2011, he moved to proceed in forma pauperis in each. He denied that his third dismissed lawsuit counted as a strike under § 1915(g). That is because he had appealed the dismissal, and the appeals court had not yet ruled. Thus, in Coleman's view, he had fewer than three qualifying dismissals, and was eligible for in forma pauperis status under the statute.

The District Court rejected Coleman's argument. It held that "a dismissal counts as a strike even if it is pending on appeal at the time that the plaintiff files his new action." No. 10–cv–337 (WD Mich., Apr. 12, 2011), App. to Pet. for Cert. 21a, 24a. It thus refused to permit Coleman to proceed in forma pauperis in any of his four suits.

On appeal, a divided panel of the Sixth Circuit agreed with the District Court. 733 F.3d 175 (2013). It resolved the four cases using slightly different procedures. In one of the four cases, the Sixth Circuit affirmed the District Court's judgment. In the remaining three cases, it denied Coleman's request to proceed in forma pauperis on appeal. It subsequently dismissed the three cases for want of prosecution after Coleman failed to pay the appellate filing fees.

In contrast to the Sixth Circuit, the vast majority of the other Courts of Appeals have held that a prior dismissal on a statutorily enumerated ground does not count as a strike while an appeal of that dismissal remains pending. See Henslee v. Keller, 681 F.3d 538, 541 (C.A.4 2012) (listing, and joining, courts that have adopted the majority view). In light of the division of opinion among the Circuits, we granted Coleman's petition for certiorari.

II

A

In our view, the Sixth Circuit majority correctly applied § 1915(g). A prior dismissal on a statutorily enumerated ground counts as a strike even if the dismissal is the subject of an appeal. That, after all, is what the statute literally says. The "three strikes" provision applies where a prisoner "has, on 3 or more prior occasions ... brought an action or appeal ... that was dismissed on" certain grounds. § 1915(g) (emphasis added). Coleman believes that we should read the statute as if it referred to an "affirmed dismissal," as if it considered a trial court dismissal to be provisional, or as if it meant that a dismissal falls within the statute's scope only when the litigant has no further chance to secure a reversal. But the statute itself says none of these things.

Instead, the statute refers to whether an action or appeal "was dismissed." § 1915(g). The linguistic term "dismiss," taken alone, does not normally include subsequent appellate activity. See, e.g., Heintz v. Jenkins, 514 U.S. 291, 294, 115 S.Ct. 1489, 131 L.Ed.2d 395 (1995) ("[T]he District Court dismissed [the] lawsuit for failure to state a claim.... However, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed the District Court's judgment"); Gray v. Netherland, 518 U.S. 152, 158, 116 S.Ct. 2074, 135 L.Ed.2d 457 (1996) ("The Suffolk Circuit Court dismissed petitioner's state petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The Virginia Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal"). Indeed, § 1915 itself describes dismissal as an action taken by a single court, not as a sequence of events involving multiple courts. See § 1915(e)(2) ("[T]he court

shall dismiss the case at any time if the court determines that—(A) the allegation of poverty is untrue; or (B) the action or appeal—(i) is frivolous or malicious; [or] (ii) fails to state a claim on which relief may be granted" (emphasis added)).

Coleman insists that § 1915(g) is not so clear. Even if the term "dismissed" is unambiguous, contends Coleman, the phrase "prior occasions" creates ambiguity. Coleman observes that the phrase " ‘may refer to a single moment or to a continuing event: to an appeal, independent of the underlying action, or to the continuing claim, inclusive of both the action and its appeal.’ " Brief for Petitioner 17 (quoting Henslee, supra, at 542). Coleman believes that a "prior occasion" in the context of § 1915(g) may therefore include both a dismissal on an enumerated ground and any subsequent appeal.

We find it difficult to agree. Linguistically speaking, we see nothing about the phrase "prior occasions" that would transform a dismissal into a dismissal-plus-appellate-review. An "occasion" is "a particular occurrence," a "happening," or an "incident." Webster's Third New International Dictionary 1560 (3d ed. 1993). And the statute provides the content of that occurrence, happening, or incident: It is an instance in which a "prisoner has ... brought an action or appeal in a court of the United States that was dismissed on" statutorily enumerated grounds. § 1915(g). Under the plain language of the statute, when Coleman filed the suits at...