Lyons v. Sade Capital
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-06627
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Lyons v. Sade Capital, Judge Swain transferred Lyons’s contract case from New York to Georgia because the events and property were there.
Charles Lyons’s case was moved from the Southern District of New York to the Northern District of Georgia. Sade Capital remains the defendant, and the Georgia court will address any further proceedings and whether Lyons may proceed without prepaying fees.
What happened
In Lyons v. Sade Capital, Charles Lyons, representing himself, alleged that Sade Capital breached a contract to repair mold damage at an apartment in Peachtree Corners, Georgia. He filed the case in the Southern District of New York, which the opinion says was a proper venue because Sade Capital allegedly resides in New York.
The court concluded that the Northern District of Georgia was also a proper venue because the underlying events and real property were there. It found that transfer would be more convenient because relevant documents and witnesses were reasonably expected to be in Georgia, and because Lyons had filed related cases there.
Judge Swain ordered the case transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and closed it in the Southern District of New York. The Georgia court will decide whether Lyons may proceed without paying filing fees; no summons will issue from the New York court. The court also denied fee-free status for any appeal, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Lyons v. Sade Capital · No. 1:25-cv-06627
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 20, 2025
Background
Charles Lyons, who is representing himself, brought a contract action against Sade Capital. Lyons alleges that Sade Capital breached a contract to repair damage caused by mold at an apartment in Peachtree Corners, Gwinnett County, Georgia. He invoked federal-question and diversity-of-citizenship jurisdiction.
Venue and Transfer Analysis
The court held that venue was proper in the Southern District of New York under 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b)(1) because Lyons alleged that Sade Capital resides in New York, New York. Venue was also proper in the Northern District of Georgia under § 1391(b)(2) because the claims arose from alleged events involving real property in Peachtree Corners, which is within that district.
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), a court may transfer a case, even when venue is proper, for the convenience of the parties and witnesses and in the interest of justice. The court found transfer appropriate because the underlying events and the property at issue were in the Northern District of Georgia. It also reasonably expected relevant documents and witnesses to be located there. The court noted that it had previously transferred a related action brought by Lyons to that district and that Lyons had filed several other actions there arising from the same series of events.
Ruling
The court ordered the Clerk of Court to transfer the action to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia under § 1404(a). The order did not decide whether Sade Capital breached the contract. It closed the case in the Southern District of New York, directed that no summons issue from that court, and left the question of whether Lyons could proceed without prepaying fees to the transferee court. The court certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.