Lama v. New Century Foundation
- Gregory Woods
- 3:19-cv-07027-JSC
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 3
In Lama v. New Century Foundation, Judge Woods transferred the case to California, adopted the recommendation, denied Chen’s motion without prejudice, and denied fee-free appeal status.
The plaintiffs and defendants in the case were affected by the transfer from the Southern District of New York to the Northern District of California. Defendant Angela Chen’s motion to dismiss was denied without prejudice, and the plaintiffs were denied fee-free status for an appeal.
What happened
In Lama v. New Century Foundation, a magistrate judge recommended denying Defendant Angela Chen’s motion to dismiss without prejudice and transferring the case from New York to the Northern District of California. The plaintiffs asked for transfer to White Plains or Washington, D.C., but did not specifically object to the recommended California transfer.
The court found that the plaintiffs’ filing was not a proper objection because it did not identify specific errors in the recommendation. The court also found that the recommendation had been properly served electronically on the plaintiffs’ lawyer and that there was no basis for transferring the case to White Plains or Washington, D.C.
Judge Gregory H. Woods found no clear error, adopted the recommendation in full, and transferred the case to the Northern District of California under federal venue law. The court also denied fee-free status for any appeal after certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Lama v. New Century Foundation · No. 3:19-cv-07027-JSC
- Gregory Woods
- Oct. 28, 2019
Background
The action was filed in the Southern District of New York. On October 10, 2019, Magistrate Judge Freeman issued a Report and Recommendation recommending that Defendant Angela Chen’s motion to dismiss be denied without prejudice. The magistrate judge also recommended that the court transfer the action to the Northern District of California under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a).
The plaintiffs filed a document titled “Order to Transfer.” It requested transfer to White Plains or Washington, D.C., and stated that the Report and Recommendation had not been provided to their lawyer or the lawyer’s firm by electronic service or physical mail. The court did not treat the filing as a proper objection because it did not specifically challenge particular findings in the Report and Recommendation. The court noted that the electronic filing record showed the recommendation had been delivered to the listed email address and concluded that service was proper. It also stated that there was no basis to transfer the case to White Plains or Washington, D.C., and that the Northern District of California was a district where the case could have been brought.
Ruling
Judge Gregory H. Woods reviewed the Report and Recommendation for clear error, meaning an obvious mistake apparent from the record, and found none. The court accepted and adopted the recommendation in its entirety. It therefore denied Chen’s motion to dismiss without prejudice and transferred the case to the Northern District of California under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a). The clerk was directed to complete the transfer without delay.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore 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.