Parker v. Bureau of Prisons

Background

Handsome Peter Parker brought a civil-rights action under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. The opinion states that Parker was incarcerated at the Yankton Federal Prison Camp in Yankton, South Dakota, and that the events underlying his complaint occurred at the Federal Correctional Institution in Sandstone, Pine County, Minnesota.

Parker sued the Bureau of Prisons, the Sandstone Institution, and several identified and unidentified officials. In his complaint, which he filed without a lawyer, Parker alleged that he should not have been transferred to the Yankton camp because it was more than 500 miles from his family.

Venue ruling

The court applied 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b), which provides that a federal-question case may be filed where a defendant resides or where a substantial part of the events or omissions underlying the claim occurred. The court concluded that venue was proper only in the District of Minnesota because the relevant events occurred in Pine County and the defendants were public officials serving there.

Disposition

The court ordered that the case be transferred to the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a). Judge Ray Kent’s order expressly stated that the Western District of Michigan had not reviewed the merits of Parker’s complaint.