Opinion ID: 852478
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Constitutionality of the Three Strikes Law

Text: Many states have provisions designed to ease the burden of frequent and frivolous filings. Prolific filers' access to the courts has been subjected to a variety of conditions, for example, posting of a security bond or prior screening by the court. See, e.g., Cal.Civ.Proc.Code § 391 (West 2004) (requiring security if plaintiff (a) has lost or delayed five civil actions pro se in the past seven years; (b) continues to try to relitigate a closed case pro se; (c) repeatedly engages in frivolous or bad faith tactics pro se; or d) has previously been declared a frequent filer); Colo.Rev.Stat. § 13-17.5-102.7 (2007) (inmate who has had three civil actions based upon prison conditions dismissed cannot file any further civil action against a prison in forma pauperis unless imminent danger of serious bodily injury); Del. Code Ann. tit. 10, § 8803(e) (1999) (requiring litigant who has filed frivolous or malicious litigation to obtain leave of court to file any actions); Fla. Stat. Ann. § 68.093 (West 2005) (requiring security from plaintiff who has lost five or more civil actions pro se in the past five years and is not reasonably likely to prevail on the merits); Fla. Stat. Ann. § 944.279(1) (West 2006) (subjecting prisoner who brings a frivolous or malicious suit to discipline from the Department of Corrections); Haw.Rev.Stat. § 634J (1993) (requiring security from plaintiff who has acted in bad faith or lost five civil actions pro se in the last seven years, relitigates in bad faith, or has been declared vexatious in another state); Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 11 (Vernon 2005) (requiring security from plaintiff who has either delayed, brought in bad faith, or lost at least five civil suits in past seven years, or has been declared vexatious; and who has no reasonable probability of success in suit). These conditions have frequently survived constitutional challenge where the individual litigant has been found to abuse the right of access to courts. See, e.g., Molski v. Evergreen Dynasty Corp., 500 F.3d 1047 (9th Cir.2007) (requiring leave of court to file claims pursuant to ADA Title III); Day v. State, 903 So.2d 886 (Fla.2005) (barring litigant from filing further pro se actions); Grundstein v. Ohio, No. 1:06 CV 2381, 2006 WL 3499990 (N.D.Ohio Dec.5, 2006) (requiring leave of court to file any actions); State ex rel. Lindell v. Litscher, 260 Wis.2d 454, 659 N.W.2d 413 (Wis.Ct. App.2003) (barring indigent prisoner from filing in forma pauperis unless asserting a fundamental right). In addition to legislation in several states, section 101(a) of the Federal Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PLRA), 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) (2000), denies a frequent filer inmate the ability to file in forma pauperis. Federal courts have upheld the PLRA, finding that it does not deprive [inmates] of adequate, effective, and meaningful access to the courts, Hampton v. Hobbs, 106 F.3d 1281, 1284 (6th Cir.1997), because it does not prevent inmates from pursuing claims but merely requires that they pay the filing fee. See, e.g., Ashley v. Dilworth, 147 F.3d 715, 716-17 (8th Cir.1998). [5] Indiana is unique in imposing a complete ban on filing based on the plaintiff's prior litigation. The Three Strikes Law sweeps with a broader brush than the law of any other United States jurisdiction because it operates as an indiscriminate statutory ban, not merely a condition to access to the courts. [6] The law bars claims purely on the basis of the plaintiff's prior activity without regard to the merits of the claims presented. By its own terms, such a ban on presenting any claims at all denies a remedy by due course of law for obvious wrongs that are otherwise redressable in court. The exception in the Three Strikes Law for claims of immediate danger of serious bodily injury does not cure this defect. For example, simple theft or conversion of an inmate's property would be immunized from court redress. The sweeping ban on all litigation imposed by the Three Strikes Law is unnecessary to accomplish the legitimate objectives of the legislation. The dissents contend that our holding today will clog the courts to the exclusion of legitimate litigants. This claim is unfounded. In order to dismiss a case under the Three Strikes Law, the defendant must present evidence that the plaintiff is an offender and has suffered three previous dismissals under the Frivolous Claim Law. The court must read these papers, and also the complaint to see that it does not fall within the exception for bodily injury. The court must then issue a ruling. Processing a frivolous claim, which the Constitution demands, will impose little more burden on the courts beyond those that would be required if the Three Strikes Law were upheld. If the claim is truly frivolous, the court can dismiss it under the Frivolous Claim Law. If not, the Open Courts Clause guarantees to any person the right of access to the court subject to reasonable conditions and a determination of whether the law affords a remedy. And, as noted, other courts have upheld other less stringent methods, such as requiring filing fees, to deter frivolous filing if that is a concern. The State cites Blanck v. Indiana Department of Correction, 829 N.E.2d 505 (Ind.2005), in support of its claim that the Three Strikes Law is a valid exercise of legislative power. Blanck held that the prison discipline statutes on which the plaintiff relied did not create a private cause of action. Id. Blanck also upheld the provision in the Administrative Orders and Procedures Act denying court jurisdiction over claims of prison discipline. Id. Neither holding supports the view that the legislature may deny inmates access to the courts to present any claim at all. Indeed, to the extent Blanck speaks at all to the issue before us, it acknowledged that the Open Courts Clause requires that where a cause of action has been created (by constitution, statute, or common law), courts must be open to provide remedy by due course of law. Id. at 511 (citing McIntosh v. Melroe Co., 729 N.E.2d 972, 979 (Ind.2000)). Thus, although there is no right under the Open Courts Clause to any particular cause of action and the legislature may create, modify, or abolish a particular cause of action, to the extent there is an existing cause of action, the courts must be open to entertain it. The trial court did not address the state's contention that the complaint must be dismissed under the Frivolous Claim Law. Accordingly, we express no opinion on that issue.