Garcia v. Lacey
Annotate this CasePlaintiff filed a pro se suit against a prison warden and others, alleging, among other things, that defendants entered plaintiff's prison cell on several occasions and confiscated or damaged his personal property without cause. The trial court granted defendants' motion under the provisions of the vexatious litigant law, Code Civ. Proc., 391-319.8. The court concluded that the trial court erred in determining that plaintiff is a vexatious litigant where unfiled lawsuits do not constitute "litigation" under the relevant statutory provision of California's vexatious litigant law. With regard to the five cases the government referred to where plaintiff applied for permission to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP), the IFP applications were denied and the complaints were never filed. Therefore, no action or proceeding ever commenced and those matters did not qualify as litigations within the meaning of section 391, subdivision (a). Accordingly, the court reversed the trial court's orders.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.