Grounding Frequent Filers: The Trend of Revoking the Special Status of Overly Litigious Pro Se Litigants

Authors

Michael G. Langan

Date of this Version

June 2007

Document Type

Article

Comments

Published in Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association, 43:1 (2007), pp. 12-21. Copyright © 2007 National Center for State Courts. Used by permission. Online at http://aja.ncsc.dni.us/htdocs/publications.htm.

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, federal courts in the Second and Third Circuits have, with increasing frequency, revoked the special status of pro se civil litigants who have been overly litigious. This article discusses the reasons for this trend’s appearance in the Second and Third Circuits, the rationales for the trend, the fairness of the trend, and some practical advice for courts and practitioners wrestling with the issue of whether or not the special status of a particularly litigious pro se litigant should be revoked.