Thomas v. Annucci
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-03072
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Thomas v. Annucci, Judge McMahon transferred Thomas’s COVID-19 safety-procedure lawsuit to New York’s Northern District for proper venue.
James Thomas’s lawsuit was transferred from the Southern District of New York to the Northern District of New York. The transferee court would decide whether he could proceed without prepaying fees; the court did not decide the underlying COVID-19 safety allegations.
What happened
In Thomas v. Annucci, James Thomas, who was incarcerated at Auburn Correctional Facility, sued under a federal civil-rights law, alleging that New York officials had not adopted necessary procedures to protect prisoners and staff from COVID-19. He filed the case for himself and others similarly situated without a lawyer.
The court determined that the events underlying the lawsuit occurred at Auburn, which is in Cayuga County and the Northern District of New York. The court therefore found that venue was proper there and that transferring the case served the interests of justice. It also noted that a person without a lawyer cannot represent a class.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon ordered the Clerk to transfer the case to the Northern District of New York and closed the case in the Southern District. The transferee court would decide whether Thomas could proceed without paying filing fees, and no summons would issue from the transferring court.
The detailed version
- Thomas v. Annucci · No. 1:20-cv-03072
- Colleen McMahon
- Apr. 20, 2020
Background
James Thomas filed this pro se action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that Anthony Annucci, Acting Commissioner of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, and Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York State, failed to implement safety procedures needed to protect staff and prisoners from contracting COVID-19. Thomas was incarcerated at Auburn Correctional Facility. He also purported to sue on behalf of himself and others similarly situated.
The court noted that a person who is not a lawyer cannot represent other people in court as a class representative. The opinion did not decide the merits of Thomas’s allegations about COVID-19 safety procedures.
Venue Analysis
The court explained that federal venue generally is proper where a defendant resides, where a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred, or, in limited circumstances, where a defendant is subject to the court’s personal jurisdiction. The court found that Thomas had not alleged that the defendants resided in the Southern District of New York or that a substantial part of the relevant events occurred there.
The court also considered transfer under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), which permits transfer for the convenience of the parties and witnesses and in the interest of justice. Courts may order such a transfer on their own initiative. The court considered the circumstances as a whole, including the location of the events and the location of relevant witnesses and evidence. Because the alleged events occurred at Auburn Correctional Facility, in Cayuga County, the court concluded that venue was proper in the Northern District of New York and that transfer was appropriate.
Disposition
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon directed the Clerk of Court to transfer the action to the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, mail Thomas a copy of the order, and record service on the docket. The transferee court would determine whether Thomas could proceed without prepaying fees. The court directed that no summons issue from the Southern District of New York and stated that the order closed the case there. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.