Judges impose limits on frequent filer

Seattle Post-Intelligencer/AP ^ | 4/10/08 | n/a

[kiriath_jearim]

LINCOLN, Neb. -- A jail inmate who recently filed more than 60 lawsuits in a day will no longer be able to flood Lancaster County courts with lawsuits. All six Lancaster County District judges signed off on an order limiting Eric Lewis to six filings a year unless he can show he faces immediate harm.

Lewis, 36, has filed 149 cases since January 2007. Many of Lewis' filings ask for protection orders against people who work at the jail or oversee his custody.

The judges said most cases can be denied without hearings, but the filings can create significant work for court clerks.

In their order, the judges said Lewis "has flagrantly and repeatedly abused the judicial process."

There is precedent for such limits on court filings. Previously, three courts restricted the number of filings Billy Roy Tyler could submit while serving a seven- to 10-year prison term on drug charges.

In 1990, the Douglas County District Court said Tyler had filed 99 lawsuits in an eight-year period. The court limited him to filing just one a month unless he proved the likelihood of "immediate, extraordinary and irreparable harm."

In 1998, the Lancaster County District Court limited the number of suits Tyler could file after he initiated 88 actions in one year.

Nebraska's federal judges also limited Tyler in the number of actions he can file after he filed 113 lawsuits in U.S. District Court in 19 months.

Lewis won't be able to file any more lawsuits in Lancaster County this year because he has already exceeded the yearly limit.

Lewis is awaiting trial for second-degree murder.

Authorities say Lewis attacked and killed Dr. Louis Martin last July at a Lincoln psychiatric hospital. Martin was pushed into a wall and then fell to the floor. The 78-year-old died Aug. 2.

Lewis had been placed at the hospital after a Douglas County District judge found him incompetent to stand trial on sexual assault charges.

[Jerry Attrick]

Now if they would just impose this same limit on shyster lawyers, America can start getting back on track!

[AndyJackson]

The court limited him to filing just one a month unless he proved the likelihood of "immediate, extraordinary and irreparable harm."

This is absurd. He should be limited to Zero lawsuits absent a showing of good cause under oath subject to penalty of perjury. Even when the judges have good cause to get civil litigation under control they refuse to exercise it. How come? The only thing they get more of for this is work.

[infantrywhooah]

Where’s a good shanking when you need one?

[mtbopfuyn]

Hmm, this is still America, isn’t it? Granted the guy is being a royal pain, but how can anyone limit his filings?

[Integrityrocks]

Praise and applause for the judge. The worst offenders of this practice are usually offenders who have been found guilty by a long-drawn out jury trial process of the worst crimes. They should not be able to deplete the tax payers coffers even more by being a continuing burden on the courts. They already cost tax payers millions of dollars in confinement and appeals. On the other hand, there should be zero tolerance for prison rape and convicts do need some latitude to take assault cases to the courts. A limit is good.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

Shoot, I was hoping this was about Jack Thompson.

[Integrityrocks]

The courts can limit or refuse frivolous law suits. I am a judge and have worked at most levels of the system. Most people are not aware that even the simplest of lawsuits like small claims take many hours of multiple layers of court staff time to process. Where courts have a very limited staff and budget, the response to your question of how can we limit them will be increasing taxes and court employee levels just to handle inmates who would love nothing more than to bankrupt the system.

[infantrywhooah]

Stupid, frivolous and groundless lawsuits are choking our courts. There has to be a limit on this stupidity. I applaud the judges for saying enough of this BS

[Graybeard58]

In 1990, the Douglas County District Court said Tyler had filed 99 lawsuits in an eight-year period. The court limited him to filing just one a month

Which cut him down to just 96 in an 8 year period.

[kiriath_jearim]

I read the following anecdote in a biography of England’s great Elizabethan-era/Jacobean-era lawyer and legal scholar, Sir Edward Coke:

Reportedly in 16th-century England, there was a judge who loathed wordy documents and wordy lawyers. He made his loathing known and the barristers of his day acted accordingly. However, one lawyer insisted on filing an 1,100-page brief in the court. The judge saw the document, and excoriated the lawyer by saying “You could have stated your position in 11 pages...instead you submit this!” The judge ordered the lawyer to be arrested, then ordered a hole to be made in the middle of the heavy document. The lawyer’s head was then inserted through the hole. The lawyer was then tethered to the back of an oxcart and paraded through the streets, document around his neck, before being sent to jail for several days.

[festus]

Many of Lewis' filings ask for protection orders against people who work at the jail or oversee his custody.

A man with time on his hands and access to complaint forms. Its a wonderful thing.