Hill v. Morgan
- Yvonne Rogers
- 4:24-cv-07344
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Hill v. Morgan, Judge Rogers transferred the civil-rights case to the Northern District of California because venue was improper in the Eastern District.
Cymeyon Hill and Morgan; the case was transferred from the Eastern District of California to the Northern District of California.
What happened
In Cymeyon Hill v. Morgan, Hill, who is confined at Napa State Hospital and represented himself, filed a civil-rights lawsuit under federal law. The opinion states that Hill had not paid the filing fee or filed an application to proceed without paying it.
The court explained that a case generally belongs where the defendant is located or where the events involved in the claim occurred. It found that Morgan was located in Napa County and that the claim arose there, making the Northern District of California the proper court.
Judge Rogers ordered the case transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The order transferred the case and did not decide the underlying civil-rights claim.
The detailed version
- Hill v. Morgan · No. 4:24-cv-07344
- Yvonne Rogers
- Oct. 16, 2024
Background
Cymeyon Hill, who is confined in Napa State Hospital and proceeding without a lawyer, filed a civil-rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Hill had not paid the filing fee and had not filed an application to proceed without paying the fee under the federal statute for litigants who cannot pay.
Venue analysis
The court applied 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b), the federal venue statute. That statute identifies districts where a civil action may be filed, including a district where a defendant resides when the statutory conditions are met or where a substantial part of the events giving rise to the claim occurred.
The court stated that the defendant or defendants were located in Napa County and that the claim arose there. Napa County is in the Northern District of California. The court therefore concluded that the action had been filed in the wrong federal district.
Ruling
The court cited 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), which allows a federal court to transfer a case filed in the wrong district when doing so serves the interests of justice. It ordered that the matter be transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The order addressed venue and did not decide the merits of Hill’s civil-rights claim.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.