Webley v. The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision

Background

Clive Andre Webley, who is incarcerated at Auburn Correctional Facility and is proceeding without a lawyer, brought a civil-rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He alleged that, during 27 years of incarceration, staff within the Department of Corrections physically, sexually, and psychologically brutalized him. The complaint identified alleged events at Clinton, Comstock, Upstate, Attica, and Marcy Correctional Facilities.

The opinion also notes that the complaint was unsigned. Although Webley submitted a request to proceed without prepaying filing fees, he did not submit a required prisoner authorization. The court did not decide those issues or the merits of his civil-rights allegations.

Venue analysis

The court applied the federal venue statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1391. It explained that venue may be proper where a defendant resides, where a substantial part of the events or omissions occurred, or, in certain circumstances, where a defendant is subject to the court’s personal jurisdiction.

The court concluded that venue was not proper in the Southern District of New York because Webley did not allege that a substantial part of the events or omissions occurred there. The alleged events occurred in Clinton, Washington, Franklin, Oneida, and Cayuga Counties, which are in the Northern District of New York, and in Wyoming County, which is in the Western District of New York. Because a substantial part of the alleged events occurred in the Northern District, the court determined that venue was proper there.

Disposition

The court transferred the action to the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a). The clerk was directed to send Webley a copy of the order, record service, and transfer the case. The Southern District’s clerk was not to issue a summons, and the order closed the case in that district.

The court left the decision about whether Webley could proceed without prepaying fees to the transferee court. It 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 purposes of an appeal. Judge Colleen McMahon did not rule on whether Webley’s alleged rights violations occurred.