Bradford v. Javate
- Phyllis Hamilton
- 4:20-cv-06833
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Bradford v. Javate, Magistrate Judge Newman transferred the prisoner’s civil-rights case to the Northern District of California because venue was improper.
The transfer affects Raymond Alford Bradford and the defendants because the case will proceed in the Northern District of California rather than the Eastern District of California.
What happened
Raymond Alford Bradford, a state prisoner representing himself, filed a civil-rights case against Dr. Javate and other defendants under a federal civil-rights law. He had not paid the filing fee or requested permission to proceed without paying it.
The court said the defendants and the events involved in the claim were in Monterey County, which is in the Northern District of California. Because the case was filed in the wrong federal district, the court determined that it should have been filed there.
The court transferred the case to the Northern District of California in the interest of justice. Magistrate Judge Kendall J. Newman issued the transfer order.
The detailed version
- Bradford v. Javate · No. 4:20-cv-06833
- Phyllis Hamilton
- Sept. 25, 2020
Background
Raymond Alford Bradford, identified in the opinion as a state prisoner proceeding without a lawyer, filed a civil-rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The opinion states that he had not paid the filing fee and had not submitted an application to proceed without paying it.
Venue
The court applied the federal venue statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b). It found that the defendants were located in Monterey County and that the claim arose there. Monterey County is in the Northern District of California, so the court concluded that the action should have been filed in that district rather than in the Eastern District of California.
Ruling
The court stated that a federal court may transfer a case filed in the wrong district when doing so serves the interests of justice. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), it ordered that the matter be transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Magistrate Judge Kendall J. Newman signed the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.