Best v. Deshader
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-08927
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Best v. Deshader, Judge McMahon transferred the case to New Jersey because the alleged events occurred there.
Kwesi Best and the claims he asserted concerning Hasani Best and D.W. were transferred from the Southern District of New York to the District of New Jersey. The named police and sheriff’s officers remain defendants in the transferred action.
What happened
In Best v. Deshader, Kwesi Best, who was representing himself, brought claims under a federal civil-rights law concerning his deceased brother, Hasani Best, and Hasani’s minor child, D.W. Only Kwesi Best signed the complaint, so the court treated him as the only plaintiff.
The court said the alleged event—Hasani Best’s death, which Best attributed to New Jersey police officers—occurred in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Because the complaint did not identify a defendant who lived in the Southern District of New York or allege that a substantial part of the events occurred there, that court found that the case belonged in the District of New Jersey.
Judge Colleen McMahon ordered the case transferred to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and closed the action in her court. She also directed that no summons issue, left any decision about proceeding without paying filing fees to the receiving court, and denied fee-free appeal status because an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Best v. Deshader · No. 1:20-cv-08927
- Colleen McMahon
- Oct. 28, 2020
Background
Kwesi Best, who was incarcerated and representing himself, asserted claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 on behalf of his deceased brother, Hasani Best, and Hasani’s minor child, D.W. The complaint named Asbury police officers and Monmouth County sheriff’s officers as defendants. Because Kwesi Best was the only listed plaintiff who signed the complaint, the court treated him as the only plaintiff in the action.
The court also noted that the complaint had used the minor child’s full name. It directed the Clerk of Court to change the docket caption to use the child’s initials and restricted electronic access to the complaint to case participants.
Venue analysis
Venue is the proper federal court location for a lawsuit. The court applied 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b), which generally permits a civil action 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 for the case.
Best alleged that the event underlying the claims—Hasani Best’s death caused by New Jersey police officers—occurred in Asbury Park, New Jersey. The court found that the complaint did not allege that any defendant resided in the Southern District of New York or that a substantial part of the events occurred there. Because Asbury Park is within the District of New Jersey, the court concluded that venue was proper there under § 1391(b)(2).
Disposition
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), the court transferred the action to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. The court directed the Clerk of Court to mail the order to Kwesi Best and record service on the docket. It stated that the receiving court would decide whether any listed plaintiff could proceed without paying fees. No summons would issue from the Southern District of New York, and the order closed the action there.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for an appeal. The opinion does not decide the merits of the § 1983 claims.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.