Lora v. JFK International Airport U.S. Customs and Border Protections
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-03285
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Lora v. JFK International Airport, Judge McMahon transferred Rafael Lora’s FOIA case to Pennsylvania because venue was not proper in New York.
Rafael Lora’s FOIA action was transferred from the Southern District of New York to the Middle District of Pennsylvania; the transferee court will decide whether he may proceed without prepaying fees.
What happened
In Lora v. JFK International Airport U.S. Customs and Border Protections, Rafael Lora, who was representing himself, sought records from U.S. Customs and Border Protection about a package addressed to his Pennsylvania residence that he says was seized at JFK Airport.
The court explained that Freedom of Information Act cases may be filed where the requester resides, where the agency records are located, or in the District of Columbia. Lora alleged that he lived in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and the court determined that the appropriate federal district was the Middle District of Pennsylvania, not the Southern District of New York.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon transferred the action to the Middle District of Pennsylvania under the federal venue-transfer statute. The Southern District of New York closed the case, issued no summons, and left any decision about allowing Lora to proceed without paying fees to the transferee court.
The detailed version
- Lora v. JFK International Airport U.S. Customs and Border Protections · No. 1:20-cv-03285
- Colleen McMahon
- Apr. 29, 2020
Background
Rafael Lora, a federal pretrial detainee held at Lackawanna County Prison, filed this self-represented action under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). He sought records from U.S. Customs and Border Protection concerning a package mailed from the Dominican Republic to his residence in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. He alleged that the package was seized at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens County, New York.
Venue analysis
FOIA permits a records lawsuit in the federal district where the requester resides, where the requester has a principal place of business, where the agency records are located, or in the District of Columbia. Lora alleged that he resided in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, but did not state where his principal place of business was. The court noted that JFK Airport is in the Eastern District of New York, not the Southern District of New York. Because Luzerne County is in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the court determined that venue belonged there.
Ruling and disposition
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon ordered the Clerk to transfer the action to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), the federal statute permitting transfer when venue is improper. The order closed the case in the Southern District of New York, directed that a summons not issue from that court, and left the decision about whether Lora could proceed without prepaying fees to the transferee court. The court also certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The opinion refers to an earlier related FOIA proceeding involving Lora but does not decide the merits of his request for records.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.