Gaines v. Zhou

Background

Jacobi Julius Gaines, identified in the order as a county inmate proceeding without a lawyer, filed a civil-rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He also filed an application 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 generally permits a civil action to be filed where a defendant resides, where a substantial part of the events or omissions occurred, or, in limited circumstances, where a defendant is subject to the court’s personal jurisdiction.

The court stated that Gaines’s claim arose in Alameda County. Because Alameda County is in the Northern District of California, the court concluded that the action should have been filed there rather than in the Eastern District of California.

Disposition

The court stated that, in the interest of justice, a federal court may transfer a complaint filed in the wrong district to the correct district under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a). Judge Allison Claire ordered that the matter be transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The order did not resolve the merits of the civil-rights claims.

Note on the record

The supplied metadata identifies a different court, judge, date, and spelling of the defendant’s name than the opinion text. This summary follows the opinion text, which identifies the court as the Eastern District of California, the defendant as “Y. ZHOV, et al.,” the judge as Allison Claire, and the date as December 15, 2023.