Update: Pro Se Litigant of the Day, Jonathan Lee Riches
We’re still in the great state of Georgia (which brought us today’s Judge of the Day). Now one of our favorite pro se litigants has been barred from further filing in the Northern District of Georgia.
From the Fulton County Daily Report:
The federal court filing spree launched by Jonathan Lee Riches, a pro se inmate who has barraged courts around the country with some 1,500 handwritten suits, is coming to a halt—at least in the Northern District of Georgia.Calling Riches a “vexatious and abusive litigant,” U.S. District Judge Willis B. Hunt Jr. last week permanently enjoined Riches—who has filed 351 suits in the Northern District alone over the past several months—from filing any more without first meeting a strict set of criteria.
Vexatious. That’s a great Scabulous word!
The order [pdf] dismisses all of Riches’ pending cases without prejudice. Skadden Arps and Pepper Hamilton must be breathing huge sighs of relief.
Among the defendants to Riches’ Atlanta suits were former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and his wife, Silda; the law firms Pepper Hamilton and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Hooters of America; Norwegian Cruise Lines Inc.; and investment banker Bruce Wasserstein, whose private equity fund used to own the Daily Report’s parent company.Riches’ celebrity targets included actors Anne Heche, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones; musicians Cyndi Lauper and Eddie Van Halen; and Braves pitcher Tom Glavine.
In one case, he alleged that actress Molly Ringwald “said she is going to turn me into a redhead and … burn me with 16 candles,” an apparent reference to Ringwald’s 1984 hit movie “Sixteen Candles.”
The candles line tempts us to withdraw our promise not to have Riches join ATL as a guest blogger.
Judge blocks inmate’s flood of cases to district court [Law.com]




Comments
415th!
I'm bored with this story.
Fire Kash.
KASH, scabulous sounds like a terrible game, especially if you have sensitive skin...
I play Scabulous all the time... it's sort of like tiddlywinks. Did not know there was an online version.
As a 9-letter word, Vexatious would indeed be a nice Scrabulous play.
1. what is this "scabulous" of which you speak?
2. i'd love you forever if you got jlr(c) as a guest blogger. he's my legal hero.
That's a great Scabulous word!
Scabulous?
gross
1:48 - Spelling a nine-letter word is no big deal. Guys in my high school used to do it all the time.
(Especially if part of the word, like "ex" or "at" or "us," is already on the board.)
Someone string 1:27 up by his or her big toes. Comments suggesting that Kashmir depart are beyond the pale; take that ooze over to autoadmit.
Hooters! Hooters!
The guy is absolutely hilarious.
1:27 = jealous SEN.
The guy is either a savant or a comic genius... i lean toward the latter b/c his associations speak of a self awareness not present with most obsessive-compulsive conspiracy theorist litigants-in-waiting... somebody needs to give the guy a book deal and let him write stream of conscious about his would-be lawsuits and the "injuries" done to him by the societal icons he names as defendants...