Greyer v. Ill. Dept. of Corrections

Dist. Ct. erred in dismissing plaintiffs-prisoners’ civil actions in which plaintiff sought in forma pauperis treatment, where Dist. Ct. found that plaintiffs had committed fraud on court by failing to list on in forma pauperis application all prior actions that plaintiff had filed. In one case, plaintiff had failed to list two prior lawsuits, which had not resulted in imposition of any “strike,” and plaintiff could have proceeded in forma pauperis in instant lawsuit had he listed said lawsuits. In other case, plaintiff failed to list three prior lawsuits, but had not incurred strike in any of said lawsuits. Ct. of Appeals found that neither omission constituted material misstatement necessary for fraud finding, and plaintiffs’ explanations that they simply forget about said cases did not provide enough evidence to support Dist. Ct.’s belief that omissions were intentional.