Rogers v. Walmart, Inc.

Background

Joshua Rogers filed this action without a lawyer under the court's diversity-of-citizenship jurisdiction. He named Walmart Inc. and NJ Transit as defendants and alleged that they violated his state-law rights in connection with events at a Walmart store in Secaucus, New Jersey, and on an NJ Transit bus. The complaint itself contained no factual allegations, but a separate request for subpoenas did. Because Rogers was representing himself, the court treated the complaint and the factual statements in the subpoena request as one operative pleading.

Rogers alleged that Walmart loss-prevention officers suspected him of shoplifting. He also described an alleged plan involving an unspecified individual and an NJ Transit bus driver to stop the bus in the Lincoln Tunnel so that he could be arrested. He said that unspecified officers searched his bags on the bus, made derogatory comments, and called him a “meth dealer.” He separately referred to alleged conduct by New York City Police Department officers at his apartment, but he did not name any NYPD officers as defendants.

Venue and Transfer

Venue means the federal judicial district where a case may be heard. The court explained that venue could be proper in the Southern District of New York under 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b)(1), even assuming the two defendants could be treated as residents of that district. But the court found that venue was also proper in the District of New Jersey under § 1391(b)(2) because a substantial part of the events involving the named defendants occurred in New Jersey.

The court applied 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), which allows a court to transfer a case to another district where it could have been brought when doing so would be more convenient for the parties and witnesses and would serve the interests of justice. It found transfer appropriate because the underlying events occurred in New Jersey, both defendants were located there, and relevant witnesses and documents could reasonably be expected to be there.

Disposition

The court transferred the action to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. The clerk was directed to transfer the case, no summons was to issue from the Southern District of New York, and the order closed the case in that court. The court also stated that Rogers could file a new civil action against NYPD officers or other defendants who reside in the Southern District of New York concerning events that occurred there.

The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. This was a venue-transfer order; it did not decide whether Rogers's underlying claims were legally or factually valid.