Jones v. Jury

Background

Sean Jones, who was incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary in Victorville, California, filed this action without a lawyer. He described his filing as a petition challenging his detention, and the Clerk initially opened it as a motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 because Jones had been convicted in the Southern District of New York. After reviewing the complaint, the court concluded that Jones was not asking to vacate his conviction or sentence. Instead, he sought money damages for events at the Victorville prison.

The court therefore treated the filing as claims under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, a case allowing certain damages claims against federal officials for constitutional violations. Jones alleged that the defendants violated the Eighth Amendment by withholding medical attention and keeping him in a cell for three days without food or water. The defendants included individual correction officers employed at the Victorville prison and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Venue

Venue is the legally proper federal district for a case. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b), a civil action may generally be filed where a defendant resides, where a substantial part of the events occurred, or, if neither applies, where a defendant is subject to the court’s authority. The court found that Jones did not allege that any defendant resided in the Southern District of New York or that a substantial part of the events occurred there.

The court stated that Jones’s claims arose at the Victorville prison in San Bernardino County, California. That location is in the Central District of California, Eastern Division. The court also noted that the Federal Bureau of Prisons was protected from this damages suit by the government’s immunity from suit unless that immunity has been waived.

Ruling

Judge Colleen McMahon ordered the Clerk to transfer the action to the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Eastern Division, under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), which permits transfer when venue is improper. The order closed the case in the Southern District of New York, and no summons was to issue from that court. The court left the decision about whether Jones could proceed without prepaying filing fees to the transferee court.

The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Jones permission to appeal without prepaying fees.