Reid v. Exelon Corporation LLC
- Laura Swain
- 1:21-cv-11233
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 6
In Reid v. Exelon Corporation LLC, Judge Swain transferred the pro se employment case from the Southern District of New York to the Northern District.
Jerome Reid’s claims were moved from the Southern District of New York to the Northern District of New York. The transfer affected the defendants named in the action, but the court did not decide the merits of the claims.
What happened
In Reid v. Exelon Corporation LLC, Jerome Reid, representing himself, alleged that Exelon Corporation LLC and other defendants breached a 1989 settlement agreement and denied him employment-related rights. He brought claims under federal employment laws and New York and New Jersey statutes.
The court concluded that the events involved Reid’s workplace in Oswego County, in the Northern District of New York. It transferred the case there because that venue was proper and the transfer served the parties’ convenience and the interests of justice. The court did not decide whether Reid’s claims were legally valid.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the clerk to transfer the action, closed the Southern District case, and left any decision about proceeding without paying fees to the transferee court. She also denied fee-free status for an appeal, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Reid v. Exelon Corporation LLC · No. 1:21-cv-11233
- Laura Swain
- Jan. 31, 2022
Background
Jerome Reid filed this action without a lawyer. He alleged that defendants breached a settlement agreement dated September 13, 1989, that he signed while working at the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station in Oswego County, New York. According to Reid, the agreement promised him a Drafting Technician position in the electrical planning department, but defendants later abolished that position. He also alleged that defendants refused his attempt in December 2020 to resolve the matter and denied him employment-related rights, privileges, and benefits.
Reid asserted claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Energy Reorganization Act, and New York and New Jersey antidiscrimination and whistleblower statutes. He attached an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge filed in Buffalo and alleged that he filed a Nuclear Regulatory Commission complaint against Exelon on March 1, 2021.
Venue
Venue means the federal district where a case may properly be heard. The court explained that Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Rehabilitation Act allow claims in a district where the alleged employment violation occurred, where relevant employment records are kept, or where the person would have worked absent the alleged violation. Because Reid alleged that he worked in New York State, the court stated that the Southern District and every other federal district in New York were proper venues for those claims.
The court applied the general venue statute to Reid’s claims under Section 1981 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. It concluded that the Southern District did not appear to be a proper venue for those claims because Reid did not allege facts showing that Constellation Energy’s involvement supported venue there or that a substantial part of the relevant events occurred in the Southern District.
Transfer
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), a court may transfer a case for the convenience of the parties and witnesses and in the interest of justice. The court considered the location of Reid’s workplace and the defendants located in the Northern District, including his former employer, Nine Mile, and Exelon. It also noted that Reid’s allegations against National Grid were vague and that he alleged no facts showing Constellation Energy’s involvement.
The court found that the Northern District of New York was the proper venue and that the total circumstances supported transfer there in the interest of justice. The court ordered the clerk to transfer the action to that district. It did not decide the merits of Reid’s employment, discrimination, retaliation, or settlement-agreement claims.
Disposition
The transfer order closed the case in the Southern District of New York. No summons was to issue from that court. The transferee court was left to decide whether Reid could proceed without paying fees. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 6-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.