Bennett v. Dill
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:21-cv-02068
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Bennett v. Dill, Judge McMahon denied Bennett’s reconsideration motion because the transfer left this court without jurisdiction.
Anthony Bennett’s reconsideration motion and his § 2254 petition, which had already been transferred to the Eastern District of New York; Danielle Dill was the respondent.
What happened
In Bennett v. Dill, Anthony Bennett, representing himself, asked the Southern District of New York to delay processing his habeas petition until it received his filing fee. The court had already transferred the case to the Eastern District of New York, which had received it.
The court explained that a court transferring a case generally loses authority to act once the receiving court gets the case papers. Bennett did not challenge the transfer itself, and the Southern District said it therefore could not decide his motion.
The Southern District denied the reconsideration motion for lack of jurisdiction. Judge Colleen McMahon also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Bennett permission to appeal without paying the required costs.
The detailed version
- Bennett v. Dill · No. 1:21-cv-02068
- Colleen McMahon
- July 14, 2021
Background
Anthony Bennett, who was proceeding without a lawyer, filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. On March 11, 2021, the Southern District of New York ordered the case transferred to the Eastern District of New York. The clerk completed the transfer seven days later, on March 18, and the Eastern District notified the Southern District on March 19 that it had received the case and assigned it a new case number.
Bennett’s motion for reconsideration was dated March 19 and received by the Southern District on March 26. He asked the court not to process his petition until after it received his filing fee. The court had received that fee on March 17. The opinion states that Bennett did not challenge the March 11 transfer order itself.
Court’s reasoning
The court explained that transferring a case generally ends the transferring court’s authority over the action. The transferring court may retain authority if the party seeking review obtains a stay before the receiving court gets the case papers. Otherwise, a party opposing the transfer must seek reconsideration in the receiving court.
The court concluded that it lacked authority to consider Bennett’s motion because the Eastern District had received the case. It noted that the motion might ordinarily be denied as moot because the filing fee had been received and the case had been transferred, but it denied the motion instead for lack of jurisdiction. The court also stated that even using March 19 as the filing date, the Eastern District opened its case that same day.
Disposition
Judge Colleen McMahon denied Bennett’s motion for reconsideration. The clerk was directed to mail him a copy of the order and record service on the docket. The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying the costs of an appeal.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.