Casias v. Tapia-Alcazar
- Beth Freeman
- 5:25-cv-00316
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Casias v. Tapia-Alcazar, Judge Peterson transferred the prisoner’s civil-rights case to the correct federal district.
Jacob Casias and the defendants identified as F. Tapia-Alcazar, Jr., et al.; the case will proceed in the Northern District of California.
What happened
Jacob Casias v. F. Tapia-Alcazar, Jr., et al. is a civil-rights case filed by a state prisoner without a lawyer under a federal civil-rights law. Casias also asked to proceed without paying the filing fee.
The court said the claim arose in Monterey County, which is in the Northern District of California. Because the case was filed in the wrong federal district, the court considered transfer to the proper district.
The court transferred the matter to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Judge Jeremy D. Peterson signed the order.
The detailed version
- Casias v. Tapia-Alcazar · No. 5:25-cv-00316
- Beth Freeman
- Jan. 7, 2025
Background
Jacob Casias, a state prisoner representing himself, filed a civil-rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He also filed an application to proceed without paying the filing fee.
Venue
The court explained that federal law permits a civil action to be filed in certain districts connected to the defendants or the events underlying the claim. The opinion states that Casias’s claim arose in Monterey County, which is in the Northern District of California. The case was filed in the Eastern District of California instead.
Ruling
The court determined that the case should have been filed in the Northern District of California. Citing the federal venue-transfer statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), the court ordered that the matter be transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The order does not rule on the merits of Casias’s civil-rights claims or on his application to proceed without paying the filing fee.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.