In Forma Pauperis

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Alvernest Kennedy v. Charles A. Huibregtse et al

Case No.: 15-3743

Officials: POSNER, SYKES, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: In Forma Pauperis

Hiding of assets precludes appeal for in form pauperis action

“The appeal thus is doomed by 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(A), which provides that “notwithstanding any filing fee, or any portion thereof, that may have been paid, the court shall dismiss the case at any time if the court determines that … the allegation of poverty is untrue.” That is an exact description of this case; and even if, as some cases suggest, a plain‐ tiff can be excused if his misstatements were made in good faith, Lee v. McDonald’s Corp., 231 F.3d 456, 459 (8th Cir. 2000); Matthews v. Gaither, 902 F.2d 877, 881 (11th Cir. 1990), this is not such a case, involving as it does a deliberate, material lie. In Thomas v. General Motors Acceptance Corp., 288 F.3d 305, 306 (7th Cir. 2002), we remarked that “dismissal with prejudice may have been the only feasible sanction for this perjury designed to defraud the government. Dismissal without prejudice would have been no sanction at all, unless perchance the statute of limitations had run in the interim, which it must not have done or the plaintiff would not be complaining about the fact that his suit was dismissed with prejudice. And a monetary sanction would probably be difficult to collect from a litigant assiduous in concealing as‐ sets.””

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.