It looks like Eric D. Smith, inmate at the New Castle Correctional Facility, had a big day in the courts today. The Court of Appeals issued three separate opinions adverse to Mr. Smith.
#1- Appeal of summary judgment against him in 33D01-0808-PL-16 where he sued a mailroom employee and a grievance review officer at the prison in conjunction with the denial of his request to have various books on the subject of anarchy.
#2 – Appeal of dismissal of his complaint in 48D01-0709-PL-1315 where he sued the Department of Correction complaining of their use of tear gas in the segregation unit where other inmates had started a fire. Some of that tear gas caused him pain and suffering. I like that the Court of Appeals cited rationales in opinions from a couple of his previous cases to dismiss his complaint in this one. Smith v. Indiana Department of Correction, 883 N.E.2d 802 (Ind. 2008); and Smith v. Carrasco, 850 N.E.2d 868 (Ind Ct. App. 2006) were both prior cases of Mr. Smith’s. However, I do have a tenuous connection to this opinion — the court cited the case of Severson v. Bd. of Trustees of Purdue University, 777 N.E.2d 1181 (Ind. Ct. App. 2002) where I was an attorney for Tippecanoe County, another defendant in that case. But, I think it’s fair to say that Mr. Smith has made more case law than I have.
#3 – Appeal of dismissal of complaint in 33D01-0809-PL-20 against the Superintendent of the Department of Correction involving his alleged denial of access to an adequate law library and to a legal assistant to pursue his considerable litigation efforts.
It probably isn’t a coincidence that the Court of Appeals issued all three of these opinions on the same day. I have to guess that there is at least a subtext expressing some unhappiness with the Supreme Court striking down the “three strikes” statute adopted by the General Assembly. That statute basically closed the door on frivolous inmate-litigants except in cases involving immediate danger of serious bodily injury. The Supreme Court struck down this effort to limit frivolous litigation in a case filed by none other than Mr. Smith in Smith v. Indiana Department of Correction, 883 N.E.2d 802 (Ind. 2008). (See my prior discussion here.)
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