ROY A. DAY, APPELLANT,
v.
THOMAS W. VINSON, ET AL., APPELLEES

Fla. 2d DCA | 1998-04-24
No. 98-00609
PARKER, C.J., and DANAHY, CAMPBELL, FRANK, THREADGILL, PATTERSON, ALTENBERND, BLUE, FULMER, QUINCE, WHATLEY, NORTHCUTT, GREEN and CASANUEVA, JJ., concur.
713 So. 2d 1016 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1998) Positive Treatment
Cited by 11 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Roy Day's appeal was dismissed for failure to comply with the court's order to pay filing fees. The court, finding Day had engaged in a pattern of frivolous and abusive filings across twenty or more appeals and petitions, imposed restrictions on his future filings, requiring attorney representation for any extraordinary relief petitions.


Holding

The court dismissed Day's appeal for failure to comply with its February 18, 1998 order regarding payment of filing fees. The court imposed prospective restrictions requiring that all future petitions for extraordinary relief from Day must be submitted and signed by a member in good standing of The Florida Bar, with non-compliant papers automatically placed in inactive files and future notices of appeal summarily stricken, except for appeals directly concerning criminal judgments and sentences.


Headnotes

[1] An appeal may be dismissed for failure to comply with a court order, such as paying a filing fee.

[2] A litigant's cumulative history of prolific filings may constitute a frivolous and abusive misuse of the judicial process.

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Key Quotes

“Every paper filed with the Clerk of this Court, no matter how repetitious or frivolous, requires some portion of the institution's limited resources. A part of the Court's responsibility is to see that these resources are allocated in a way that promotes the interests of justice.”

Establishes the principle that courts must manage repetitious filings to protect institutional resources and promote justice; supports restrictions on frivolous filings

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Facts & Procedural History

Roy Day filed pro se in this court, claiming insolvency but failing to appear at a scheduled solvency hearing despite receiving notice. The trial cour…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

This appeal, brought by Roy Day, pro se, is hereby dismissed for failure to comply with this court’s order of February 18, 1998. However, because of this litigant’s cumulative history of prolific filings, which we find to be a frivolous and abusive misuse of the judicial process, we write this opinion.

Our dockets show a total of at least twenty appeals and petitions for original writs filed by appellant in this court. In addition, appellant has recently filed numerous other notices of appeal with the clerk of the trial court which have not yet been docketed in this court, pending this opinion. All of the appeals and petitions previously filed in this court were either affirmed, denied or dismissed.

In this appeal, appellant had contended he was insolvent but did not appear at the solvency hearing scheduled by the trial court, although the trial court found that he admitted receiving notice of the hearing. This court then gave appellant an extension of time to pay the filing fee and warned that the appeal would be dismissed if he did not do so. He has failed to pay the fee and the time has long since expired.

We note that the United States Supreme Court has issued an opinion finding that Roy A. Day abused its judicial process and, consequently, limited his access to that court. See Day v. Day, 510 U.S. 1, 114 S.Ct. 4, 126 L.Ed.2d 1 (1993). Quoting from an earlier case, the United States Supreme Court in Day stated:

As we have recognized, “[ejvery paper filed with the Clerk of this Court, no matter how repetitious or frivolous, requires some portion of the institution’s limited resources. A part of the Court’s responsibility is to see that these resources are allocated in a way that promotes the interests of justice.” In re McDonald, 489 U.S. 180, 184, 109 S.Ct. 993, 996, 103 L.Ed.2d 158 (1989) (per curiam). Consideration of Day’s repetitious and frivolous petitions for certiorari does not promote this end.

510 U.S. at 2, 114 S.Ct. 4.

We independently find that appellant has abused the process of this court. See also Attwood v. Singletary, 659 So. 2d 1127 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995); Peterson v. State, 530 So. 2d 424 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988).

Accordingly, we direct the clerk of this court to reject for filing all petitions for extraordinary relief sent by or on behalf of Mr. Day not yet docketed by this court, unless submitted and signed by a member in good standing of The Florida Bar. Any such papers filed in violation of this order will be automatically placed in an inactive file. Roy Day’s notices of appeal that have been received by this court but not yet docketed will be stricken by separate orders of this court. Future notices of appeal filed in trial court clerks’ offices not complying with this decision will not be docketed by the clerk of this court, and will be summarily stricken.

This order shall not apply to any appeal filed by Mr. Day that directly concerns a judgment and sentence in a criminal case.

Appeal dismissed.

PARKER, C.J., and DANAHY, CAMPBELL, FRANK, THREADGILL, PATTERSON, ALTENBERND, BLUE, FULMER, QUINCE, WHATLEY, NORTHCUTT, GREEN and CASANUEVA, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • DAY v. Dep't OF Health, 790 So. 2d 1212 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001)
    …y court of lav/ and to ‘railroad’ appellant with a fraudulent charge at the Department of Health.... ” Ours is not the first court to prohibit Day from appearing pro se. See Day v. Day, 510 U.S. 1, 114 S.Ct. 4, 126 L.Ed.2d 1 (1993); Day v. Vinson, 713 So. 2d 1016 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998). We conclude that Day’s activities have substantially interfered with the orderly process of judicial administration and it is appropriate that he should be prohibited from appearing before this court in proper person as appellant…
  • Slizyk v. Smilack, 734 So. 2d 1166 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999)
    …d be also. Except as stated above, we deny all the parties’ pending motions. This court has inherent power to prevent abuse of court procedure by inter alia prohibiting pro se parties from appearing without the assistance of counsel. Day v. Vinson, 713 So. 2d 1016 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998), Attwood v. Eighth Cir. Ct., Union County, 667 So. 2d 356 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995). We warn the parties that motions are not to be used to present arguments which should be addressed in the briefs. Diaz v. Florida Department of Correc…
  • DAY v. State, 903 So. 2d 886 (Fla. 2005)

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