King v. Yellen

Background

Sharif King, who is incarcerated at Five Points Correctional Facility in Romulus, New York, filed this action without a lawyer against Janet Yellen, the Secretary of the United States Treasury. King alleged that he was unlawfully denied stimulus checks under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, commonly called the CARES Act.

Venue analysis

The court applied 28 U.S.C. § 1391(e)(1), which provides venue rules for civil actions against federal officers acting in their official capacities. The case could be brought where a defendant resides, where a substantial part of the events or omissions occurred, or, when no real property is involved, where the plaintiff resides.

King did not state where Yellen resides. The court presumed that her office was in Washington, D.C. King did state that he was incarcerated at Five Points and that a substantial part of the events related to his efforts to receive a stimulus check occurred there. Five Points is in Seneca County, which is within the Western District of New York. The court also determined that no real property was involved and that King had not alleged facts showing that the Southern District of New York was a proper venue.

Ruling and disposition

Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered the Clerk of Court to transfer the action to the United States District Court for the Western District of New York under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), the statute allowing transfer when venue is improper. The order closed the case in the Southern District of New York, and a summons was not to issue from that court.

The court left to the Western District of New York the question whether King could proceed without prepaying filing fees. It certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The court did not decide the merits of King's allegation that he was unlawfully denied stimulus checks.