Grant v. Camino

Background

Elizabeth Grant filed this action without a lawyer while detained at the Rose M. Singer Center on Rikers Island. She sued Queens Supreme Court Judge Cimino, whom she named as “Camino,” criminal defense attorneys Christopher Miller and Mary Beth Anderson of Queens Defenders, the Queens County District Attorney, Doctors Shao and Perry, Warden Ronald Miller, mental health employee Brian Fuchs, and others. The opinion says that the attorneys apparently were representing or had represented Grant in criminal proceedings in Queens County.

Grant’s claims relate to or arise from those criminal proceedings. She appears to challenge a required examination under Article 730 of New York’s Criminal Procedure Law concerning her fitness to proceed. She also alleged that officers from the “115th Precinct assaulted me and destroyed my home.”

Venue and Transfer

The court explained that federal venue generally is proper where a defendant resides, where a substantial part of the events or omissions underlying the claims occurred, or, in limited circumstances, where a defendant is subject to the court’s personal jurisdiction. Grant provided Queens County addresses for many defendants, but the court said it was unclear where many individual defendants resided.

The court determined that venue was proper in the Eastern District of New York because Grant alleged that substantial parts of the events occurred in Queens County, which is in that district. The court also applied the federal transfer statute, which permits transfer for the convenience of parties and witnesses and in the interest of justice. It found transfer appropriate because the underlying events occurred in Queens County, where Grant’s criminal proceedings were taking place, and relevant witnesses and documents could reasonably be expected to be there. The court also noted that Grant alleged she lived outside the Southern District and that the events underlying her claims occurred outside that district, reducing the weight given to her choice of forum.

Ruling

The court transferred the action to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The Clerk was directed to transfer the action, and the Southern District of New York closed the case. A summons was not to issue from the Southern District. The court stated that the Eastern District would decide whether Grant could proceed without paying filing fees because she had filed the complaint without an application to proceed without prepayment of fees or a prisoner authorization.

The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The order addressed venue and convenience; it did not decide the merits of Grant’s underlying claims.