Perkins v. Kamco Building Supply

Background

Rodney Perkins filed this pro se action against his former employer, Kamco Building Supply. He alleges that Kamco miscalculated his years of employment for purposes of his pension. Perkins resides in San Antonio, Texas, and the complaint indicates that Kamco is located in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. Perkins did not submit an application to proceed without paying filing fees or pay the fees required to initiate the action.

The court construed Perkins’s allegations as claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, commonly called ERISA. The opinion does not identify the pension plan or definitively state where the plan is administered.

Venue Analysis

ERISA allows a civil action to be brought in the district where the plan is administered, where the alleged violation occurred, or where a defendant resides or may be found. The court stated that venue in the Southern District of New York did not appear proper under that rule. Assuming Kamco administers Perkins’s pension, the court said venue appeared proper in the Eastern District of New York because Kings County is in that district. The court also reasoned that, assuming Kamco calculated Perkins’s years of employment, the calculation occurred in Brooklyn.

Transfer Analysis

The court also 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 the transfer would promote the convenience of the parties and witnesses and serve the interests of justice. The court considered factors including witness and party convenience, where the underlying events occurred, the availability of witnesses and documents, the parties’ resources, the court’s familiarity with the governing law, the plaintiff’s choice of forum, trial efficiency, and the overall interests of justice.

The court found transfer appropriate because Kamco is located in Kings County, the underlying events appeared to have occurred in the Eastern District of New York, and it was reasonable to expect that relevant documents and witnesses would also be there. It therefore concluded that the Eastern District of New York appeared to be the more convenient forum.

Disposition

The court ordered the Clerk of Court to transfer the action to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The order states that a summons would not issue from the Southern District of New York and that the case was closed in that court. The court also certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Perkins fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order.