Davis v. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
- Phyllis Hamilton
- 4:21-cv-08491
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 1
In Davis v. California Department of Corrections, Judge Hamilton transferred the excessive-force case and vacated the fee-waiver motion.
Aaron Davis’s civil-rights case was transferred from the Northern District of California to the Eastern District of California; his fee-waiver motion was vacated, and any claim under Scholl v. Mnuchin was dismissed.
What happened
Aaron Davis, a state prisoner representing himself, sued the California Department of Corrections and others over alleged excessive force by correctional officers at North Kern State Prison. The court said that prison is in the Eastern District of California, so that district—not the Northern District of California—was the proper location for the case.
The court transferred the case to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. Because of the transfer, it did not decide Davis’s request to proceed without paying the filing fee and vacated that motion. The court also stated that any claim Davis still sought to bring under Scholl v. Mnuchin was dismissed.
Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton entered the transfer order on December 14, 2021. The order did not decide whether the alleged excessive force occurred or whether Davis was entitled to relief.
The detailed version
- Davis v. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation · No. 4:21-cv-08491
- Phyllis Hamilton
- Dec. 14, 2021
Background
Aaron Davis, a state prisoner proceeding without a lawyer, brought this civil-rights case against the California Department of Corrections and others. He alleged that correctional officers used excessive force against him at North Kern State Prison.
Venue and transfer
The court concluded that the complained-of events occurred at North Kern State Prison, which lies within the Eastern District of California. It therefore ruled that venue—the legally proper federal court location—was in the Eastern District of California rather than the Northern District of California. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), the court transferred the case to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California.
Other rulings
Because the case was being transferred, the court did not rule on Davis’s motion to proceed without paying the filing fee, identified as Docket No. 3, and vacated that motion. In a footnote, the court also stated that, to the extent Davis still sought to pursue a claim under Scholl v. Mnuchin, any such claim was dismissed. The order did not reach the merits of the excessive-force allegations.
Disposition
The case was transferred to the Eastern District of California. The motion to proceed without paying the filing fee was vacated, and any claim under Scholl v. Mnuchin was dismissed.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.