Hill v. Ventura
- Yvonne Rogers
- 4:20-cv-07460
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Cymeyon Hill v. Ventura, Magistrate Judge Claire transferred the civil-rights case to the Northern District of California because venue was improper.
Cymeyon Hill and the defendants are affected because the case was transferred from the Eastern District of California to the Northern District of California; the order did not resolve the claims.
What happened
Cymeyon Hill, who is incarcerated at Salinas Valley State Prison, filed this civil-rights case without a lawyer under a federal civil-rights law. He also applied to proceed without paying the filing fee.
The court said the claim arose at Salinas Valley State Prison in Monterey County, which is in the Northern District of California. Because the case was filed in the wrong district, the court determined that it should be transferred rather than kept there.
Magistrate Judge Allison Claire ordered the case transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The order did not decide the underlying civil-rights claims.
The detailed version
- Hill v. Ventura · No. 4:20-cv-07460
- Yvonne Rogers
- Oct. 21, 2020
Background
Cymeyon Hill, who was incarcerated at Salinas Valley State Prison, brought this civil-rights action without a lawyer under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He also applied to proceed without paying the filing fee under 28 U.S.C. § 1915.
Venue Analysis
The court applied the federal venue statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b). That statute identifies districts where a civil action may be filed, including a district where a substantial part of the events giving rise to the claim occurred.
The court stated that Hill’s claim arose at Salinas Valley State Prison in Monterey County, which is in the Northern District of California. It therefore concluded that the case should have been filed in the Northern District of California rather than the district where it was pending.
Disposition
The court ordered that the matter be transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a). The order transferred the case based on venue and did not decide the merits of Hill’s civil-rights claims. The order was signed by Allison Claire, United States Magistrate Judge.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.