§ 11.103.Duties of Clerk

The provision that makes a prefiling order operate at the counter.

A clerk of a court may not file a litigation, original proceeding, appeal, or other claim presented, pro se, by a vexatious litigant subject to a prefiling order unless the litigant obtains an order from the appropriate local administrative judge permitting the filing.

The prohibition is broad in what it covers — not only a new suit but an original proceeding, an appeal, or any other claim.

Placing the duty on the clerk is what gives the order practical effect. An order enforceable only by contempt would work after the fact; this stops the filing from being accepted.

It also places the clerk in an unusual position, screening filings against a list rather than accepting what is presented — which is why the chapter requires prefiling orders to be reported and published.

Subsection (d) is the essential exception. A clerk of a court of appeals may file an appeal from a prefiling order designating a person a vexatious litigant, or a timely filed writ of mandamus under the permission section.

Without it the designation would be unreviewable in practice. A litigant whose appeal of the order could be refused at the counter would have no way to challenge the order at all.

Subsection (c) handles the case where permission is granted: the litigation remains stayed and the defendant need not plead until the 10th day after being served with a copy of the order.

That gives the defendant the same ten days the security procedure gives, measured from service of the permission order rather than from service of the suit.