Legal News

Sue on Your Own Dime: Litigation as a Form of Costless Entertainment

By Dan Slater

An extraordinary number of people, institutions, and inanimate objects have wronged Tyrone Hurt. In just the last couple of years, Hurt has sued the Declaration of Independence, Black’s Law Dictionary, the United Nations, agencies of the District of Columbia and the Federal Government, and various courts and their officers. Hurt has . . . demanded the deportation of a Spanish-speaking government employee. — Per curiam opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (HT: How Appealing)

Since 2006, Tyrone Hurt has filed more than seventy appeals with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, but has managed to avoid filing fees in most of these cases. That’s because the district court routinely grants Hurt’s application to proceed in forma pauperis — or IFP.

For a roster of some of Hurt’s lawsuits, including his suit against the Declaration of Independence, click here.

Today, the Court of Appeals said enough is enough. Hurt must sue on his own dime. “Given Hurt’s history of filing frivolous claims and appeals,” the court writes, “he easily satisfies the standard for revocation of the IFP privilege. However, his penchant for litigation as a form of costless entertainment compels us to go one step further and ask whether we may bar him from proceeding IFP in all future civil appeals.”

The court holds that “the number, content, frequency, and disposition” Hurts filings is “aimed at taking advantage of the IFP privilege,” and concludes: “Hurt has brought numerous . . . while asking for sums of money dwarfing the size of the Federal Government’s annual budget. . . . If Hurt wishes to continue wasting this Court’s time by appealing dismissals of his absurd and frivolous claims, he should have to do it on his own dime.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on October 03, 2008 (boomark / email).