Coffer v. Reyes
- Brennan
- 5:24-cv-02051
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Coffer v. Reyes, Magistrate Judge Brennan transferred the prisoner’s civil-rights case to the Northern District of California because the claim arose there.
Jonathan Coffer and the defendants named as Reyes and other defendants; the case was transferred from the Eastern District of California to the Northern District of California.
What happened
Jonathan Coffer, a state prisoner representing himself, filed a civil-rights lawsuit under federal law against Reyes and other defendants.
The court said the claim arose 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 there.
Magistrate Judge Edmund F. Brennan ordered the matter transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Coffer v. Reyes · No. 5:24-cv-02051
- Brennan
- Apr. 2, 2024
Background
Jonathan Coffer, a state prisoner proceeding without a lawyer, filed a civil-rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Reyes and other defendants. The opinion states that the claim arose in Monterey County.
Venue
Federal law generally permits a civil action to be filed where a defendant resides, where a substantial part of the events occurred, or, in limited circumstances, where a defendant is subject to the court’s personal jurisdiction. The court determined that Monterey County is in the Northern District of California and that the action therefore should have been filed there.
Ruling
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), a federal court may transfer a case filed in the wrong district when doing so serves the interests of justice. The court ordered that the matter be transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The order addressed venue and did not resolve the merits of Coffer’s civil-rights claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.