Louis C. Keys v. Jayce Hall, et al.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

LOUIS C. KEYS, Plaintiff, v. Case No. 25-CV-1657 JAYCE HALL, et al., Defendants.

ORDER

On October 27, 2025, Louis C. Keys filed two actions arising from an incident on December 9, 2021, where he was allegedly denied admission to a Starbucks because of his race. See E.D. Wis. Case Nos. 25-CV-1657 and 25-CV-1659. The actions differ in that he named a different Starbucks employee as a defendant in each action.

In both actions he names Starbucks as a defendant. Both appear to rehash claims that the Honorable William E. Duffin dismissed on October 28, 2025. See Keys v. Starbucks, No. 24-CV-500, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 212076 (E.D. Wis. Oct. 28, 2025).

Judge Duffin concluded that Keys’s claim of racial discrimination failed because Keys offered nothing to counter Starbucks’s evidence that employees closed the lobby because of a sewer backup and were in the process of clearing out customers when he arrived. Id. at *10-11.

Keys was incarcerated when he filed these complaints and therefore the Prison Litigation Reform Act applies. As a result, he is required to pay the entire filing fee, either in full at the start of the case or, if he wishes to proceed in forma pauperis, he must pay an initial partial filing fee at the outset and the remainder of the filing fee in installments automatically deducted from his institutional trust account. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915.

Despite reminders from the Clerk, Keys has neither paid the filing fee nor submitted a motion to proceed in forma pauperis.

If Keys wishes to pursue this action, he must either pay the filing fee in full or seek to proceed in forma pauperis, in which case he must submit his institutional trust account statement and pay the initial partial filing fee that the court will calculate. Only then can the court review Keys’s complaint and determine if it is sufficient to proceed, including, for example, whether the doctrines of issue and claim preclusion prohibit these new lawsuits relating to the same incident addressed in his prior lawsuit.

If Keys no longer wishes to proceed with this action, he should promptly notify the court. If he proceeds with this action in forma pauperis, he will be required to pay the full filing fee in installments in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 1915. If Keys fails to either pay the full filing fee or file a motion to proceed in forma pauperis (accompanied by his institutional trust account statement) within 21 days of the date of this order the court will dismiss this action for failure to prosecute. See Civ. L.R. 41(c).

SO ORDERED.

Dated at Green Bay, Wisconsin this 13th day of May, 2026.

s/ Byron B. Conway BYRON B. CONWAY U.S. District Judge