TOMMY L. GREEN, SR., PETITIONER,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENT
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.
Tommy L. Green, Sr., an inmate, filed his twenty-third meritless petition with the Florida Supreme Court since 2011, all pertaining to his 2011 convictions and sentences. The Court denied the mandamus petition and imposed sanctions restricting Green's future pro se filings to those signed by a member of The Florida Bar, finding his repeated filings constituted frivolous abuse of the Court's judicial resources.
The Court denied Green's mandamus petition because it did not satisfy the requirements for mandamus relief. The Court imposed sanctions restricting Green from filing any future pro se pleadings pertaining to case number 2011-CF-182 unless signed by a member in good standing of The Florida Bar, finding that Green's pattern of frivolous filings constitutes abuse of the Court's limited judicial resources.
[1] A court may impose sanctions, including restrictions on future pro se filings, against a litigant who repeatedly files frivolous or meritless requests for relief.
[2] A writ of mandamus requires a petitioner to demonstrate a clear legal right to the requested relief, an indisputable legal duty of the respondent to perform the action, a…
Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“In order to be entitled to a writ of mandamus the petition must have a clear legal right to the requested relief, the respondent must have an indisputable legal duty to perform the requested action, and the petitioner must have no other adequate remedy available.”
Establishes the three-part test for mandamus relief that Green's petition failed to satisfy.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceGreen was convicted in Sumter County Circuit Court of multiple offenses including aggravated assault and cocaine possession and sentenced to fifteen y…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Writ Of Mandamus Requirements cases and more on FLexlaw
Tommy L. Green, Sr., an inmate in state custody, filed a pro se petition for writ of mandamus with this Court.1 His petition in this case is the twenty-third extraordinary writ, petition or notice he has filed with this Court since 2011. We denied Green’s petition in this case and expressly retained jurisdiction to pursue possible sanctions against him based upon the volume of his meritless and inappropriate filings. Green v. State, No. SC15-1473 (Fla. Order Filed Nov. 11, 2015) (order denying mandamus relief and directing Green to show cause why pro se filing restrictions should not be imposed); see also Fla. R.App. P. 9.410(a) (Sanctions; Court’s Motion).
Green was convicted in the Circuit Court of the Fifth Judicial Circuit, in and for Sumter County, Florida, of multiple criminal offenses including aggravated assault and Cocaine possession. He was sentenced in April 2011 to" fifteen years in prison. On January 20, 2012, the Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed Green’s convictions and sentences. See Green v. State, 83 So.3d 883 (Fla. 5th DCA 2012).
Green began filing with this Court in 2011." Since that time, he has filed twenty-three extraordinary writ petitions or notices.2 All of his filings have pertained to *1027his convictions and sentences in circuit court case 'number 2011-GF-182, and have been frivolous, devoid of merit, or inappropriate for consideration by this Court.- We have never granted Green the' relief sought by him in any of his filings. ■
Green’s mandamus petition in this case simply continues his pattern of filing frivolous and meritless pro se requests for relief. In it, Green sought to compel the Fifth District Court of Appeal to accept his filings. 'The petition did not satisfy the basic requirements for the issuance of a writ of mandamus. See Huffman v. State, 818 So.2d 10, 11 (Fla.2000) (“In order to be entitled to a writ of mandamus the petition®- must have a clear legal right to the requested relief, the respondent must have an indisputable legal duty to perform the requested action, and the petitioner must have no other adequate remedy available.”). " We denied the petition'and, in accordance with State v. Spencer, 751 So.2d 47 (Fla.1999), directed Green to show cause why he should not be barred from'filing any future pro se requests for relief and referred to the Department of Corrections for possible disciplinary action pursuant to section 944.279, Florida Statutes, . . ,
Green filed a response to the order to show cause in which he reasserted the same attacks on the legality of his convictions and sentences that he has previously presented to this- Court in his other filings. .At no point in his response does Green offer any justification for his use or express any remorse for his repeated misuse of the Court’s limited judicial resources. Based on his substantial filing history, it is likely that, if left unrestrained, Green will continue to inundate this Court with frivolous or meritless, requests for relief. We therefore conclude that Green has failed to show cause why sanctions should not be imposed against him for his repeated misuse of this Court’s limited judicial resources. We further conclude that the petition filed by Tommy L. Green, Sr., in this case is a frivolous proceeding brought before this Court by a state prisonér. See § 944.279(1), Fla. Stat. (2015).
Accordingly, the Clerk of this Court is hereby directed to reject any future pleadings or other requests for relief submitted by Tommy L. Green, Sr., that pertain to case number 2011-CF-182, unless such filings are signed by a member in good standing of The Florida Bar. Under the sanction herein imposed, Green may only petition the Court about his conviction or sentence in. case number 2011-CF-182 through the assistance of counsel whenever such counsel determines that the proceeding may have merit and can be filed in good faith.3 Further, because we have *1028found Green’s petitions to be frivolous, we direct the Clerk of this Court, pursuant to section 944.279(1), Florida Statutes, to forward a certified copy of this opinion to the Florida Department of Corrections’ institution or facility where Green is incarcerated.4
It is so ordered.
LABARGA, C.J., and PARIENTE, LEWIS, QUINCE, CANADY, POLSTON, and PERRY, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Grimsley v. Jones, 213 So. 3d 353 (Fla. 2016)…ice administratively dismissed). . In recent years, we have imposed comparable sanctions on other litigants whose pro se filing practices have exhibited their disregard for abusing scarce judicial resources in this Court. See, e.g., Green v. State, 190 So. 3d 1026 (Fla.2016); Casey v. State, 177 So. 3d 603 (Fla.2015); Clark v. Crews, 159 So. 3d 122 (Fla.2014); McCutcheon v. State, 117 So. 3d 769 (Fla.2013); James v. Tucker, 75 So. 3d 231 (Fla.2011); Johnson v. Rundle, 59 So. 3d 1080 (Fla.2011); Steele v. Stat…
-
Geno L. Hawkins, Sr. v. Jones, 211 So. 3d 993 (Fla. 2017)…cause. This Court has exercised its inherent authority to sanction litigants who abuse the judicial process and burden its limited resources with repeated requests for relief that are either frivolous or devoid of merit. See, e.g., Green v. State, 190 So. 3d 1026, 1027-28 (Fla. 2016); Nelson v. Crews, 110 So. 3d 890, 891 (Fla. 2013). Through his persistent filing of frivolous or meritless requests for relief, Hawkins has abused the judicial process and burdened this Court’s limited judicial resources. His fi…
Authorities Cited
- State v. Spencer, 751 So. 2d 47 (Fla. 1999)
- Pettway v. McNEIL, 987 So. 2d 20 (Fla. 2008)
- Steele v. State, 14 So. 3d 221 (Fla. 2009)
- Johnson v. Rundle, 59 So. 3d 1080 (Fla. 2011)
- James v. Tucker, 75 So. 3d 231 (Fla. 2011)
- McCUTCHEON v. State, 117 So. 3d 769 (Fla. 2013)
- Green v. State, 83 So. 3d 883 (Fla. 5th DCA 2012)
- Clark v. Crews, 159 So. 3d 122 (Fla. 2014)
- Green v. Crews, 138 So. 3d 506 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014)