Wilkins, G. v. Falbo, K., Wilkins, G. v. Falbo, K. No. 1013 MDA 2016

Wilkins is an inmate charged with barratry, pleaded guilty in 2015, and was sentenced to probation with a condition against vexatious lawsuits.
In May 2016 Wilkins filed a pro se civil Complaint against Deputy D.A. Falbo seeking damages and declaratory relief.
The trial court dismissed the Complaint as frivolous under Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 240(j) and denied leave to proceed in forma pauperis.
Wilkins appealed; he was ordered to file a Rule 1925(b) statement, but submitted a noncompliant document titled 'Questions for Review.'
The Superior Court affirmed, holding the Complaint failed to state a valid claim, lacked basis in law or fact, and was properly dismissed with prejudice.
The court rejected Wilkins’ arguments about the criminal case and noted Rule 240(j) allows dismissal if the action is frivolous.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the dismissal under Rule 240(j) was proper	Wilkins argues error in the dismissal and seeks relief on appeal	Falbo contends the Complaint had no valid legal basis and was frivolous	Dismissal affirmed; action frivolous under Rule 240(j)
Whether Wilkins’ appeal rights were violated by the form of the 1925(b) statement	Wilkins challenges procedural adequacy of appellate briefing	Record supports dismissal regardless of brief form; issues were not raised on appeal	No constitutional rights violation; proper review of frivolity conducted
Whether the trial court abused its discretion in dismissing with prejudice	Wilkins argues potential merits of claims against Falbo	Complaint lacks any plausible claim against Falbo and cannot be amended	No abuse of discretion; dismissal with prejudice affirmed

Ocasio v. Prison Health Servs., 979 A.2d 352 (Pa. Super. 2009) (frivolity standard and pre-merits review under Rule 240(j))
Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319 (1989) (frivolous and meritless actions may be dismissed)