Alston v. Wigenton

Background

David Vincent Alston, proceeding without a lawyer, brought an action against Susan D. Wigenton, Michael A. Chagares, and the Judicial Council of the 3rd Circuit. The opinion says he alleged that the defendants violated his federal constitutional rights during judicial proceedings in Newark, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The caption identifies Wigenton as a judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and Chagares as the chief circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The opinion later refers to the Judicial Conference of the Third Circuit.

Venue analysis

The court applied the general federal venue statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1391. For an action against a federal agency or a federal official acting in an official capacity, that statute permits venue in a district where a defendant resides, where a substantial part of the events occurred, or, when no real property is involved, where the plaintiff resides.

The court stated that Alston resides in Bound Brook, New Jersey, and that he did not plead the defendants’ residences. Based on federal laws concerning where federal district and circuit judges must reside, however, the court concluded that the defendants were residents of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, or Delaware. The court determined that none of the defendants resided in the Southern District of New York, that the events giving rise to the claims did not occur there, and that Alston did not reside there. Venue therefore was not proper in the Southern District of New York.

Transfer and disposition

Under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), when a case is filed in the wrong venue, a court may dismiss it or, in the interest of justice, transfer it to a district where it could have been brought. The court found that venue was proper in the District of New Jersey because Alston resides there, at least one defendant resides there, and some of the relevant events occurred there. The court therefore transferred the action to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey under § 1406(a).

The Clerk was directed to transfer the action. The transferee court was left to decide whether Alston could proceed without prepaying fees. The Southern District of New York directed that no summons issue from that court and stated that the order closed the case there. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The order did not decide the merits of Alston’s constitutional claims.