Grasberg v. New York City Department of Education
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-10994
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Grasberg v. New York City Department of Education, Judge McMahon transferred the employment case to the Eastern District of New York for convenience and justice.
Michelle Grasberg and the named defendants; the action was transferred from the Southern District of New York to the Eastern District of New York, which would decide whether Grasberg could proceed without prepaying filing fees.
What happened
In Grasberg v. New York City Department of Education, Michelle Grasberg, representing herself, sued under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act based on events related to her teaching employment at Public School 114 in Queens County, New York. The court did not decide whether her discrimination claims were valid.
Grasberg lived in Queens County, the events occurred there, and the individual defendants' listed addresses were in Queens County. Although venue might have been proper in the Southern District of New York, the court found that the Eastern District of New York was the more appropriate venue because the events occurred there and the case had no connection to the Southern District.
Judge Colleen McMahon ordered the Clerk to transfer the action to the Eastern District of New York and closed the case in the Southern District. She also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees and left any decision about proceeding without prepaying filing fees to the transferee court.
The detailed version
- Grasberg v. New York City Department of Education · No. 1:20-cv-10994
- Colleen McMahon
- Dec. 29, 2020
Background
Michelle Grasberg brought this action without a lawyer under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, a federal law that prohibits certain age-based employment discrimination. Her claims concerned her employment as a teacher at Public School 114 in Queens County, New York. The defendants were the New York City Department of Education, Elizabeth Welsome, identified as the principal of Public School 114, and Deana Folchetti, identified as the assistant principal of that school.
Venue and Transfer
The court explained that federal venue rules generally allow a civil action to 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 personal jurisdiction. Grasberg resided in Howard Beach, in Queens County. The events described in the complaint occurred at Public School 114 in Belle Harbor, also in Queens County. Grasberg listed addresses for the individual defendants in Queens County and for the Department of Education in Manhattan.
The court stated that venue might therefore be proper in the Southern District of New York. Even when venue is proper, however, a court may transfer a case to another federal district for the convenience of the parties and witnesses and in the interest of justice. The court considered the circumstances and concluded that transfer was appropriate because Grasberg did not reside in the Southern District and her claims did not arise there. The underlying events occurred in Queens County, which is within the Eastern District of New York, where venue was proper.
Disposition
The court directed the Clerk to transfer the action to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, mail a copy of the order to Grasberg, and note service on the docket. It ordered that no summons issue from the Southern District and stated that the order closed the case there. The court left to the Eastern District the question whether Grasberg could proceed without prepaying filing fees. It also certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The court did not decide the merits of Grasberg's age-discrimination claims.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.