Burke v. United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-03687
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Burke v. United States Attorney, Judge Swain transferred the case to the Eastern District of New York because venue was improper in Manhattan.
Kyle J. Burke’s case was transferred from the Southern District of New York to the Eastern District of New York; the transferee court will decide whether he may proceed without prepaying fees.
What happened
Kyle J. Burke, representing himself, sued the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, alleging that the defendant violated his rights after losing custody of a recording that was later played outside Burke’s Brooklyn home. The case was filed in the Southern District of New York.
The court ruled that venue was not proper in the Southern District because Burke did not allege that the defendant resided there or that a substantial part of the events occurred there. Because the alleged events occurred in Brooklyn, the court found that venue was proper in the Eastern District of New York.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered the case transferred to the Eastern District of New York under federal venue law. The Southern District case was closed, and the transferee court will decide whether Burke may proceed without paying filing fees; the court also denied fee-free status for any appeal from this order.
The detailed version
- Burke v. United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York · No. 1:22-cv-03687
- Laura Swain
- May 9, 2022
Background
Kyle J. Burke brought this federal-question action without a lawyer against the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Burke alleged that the defendant “lost custody” of a tape recording between Burke and a cooperating witness, and that Burke later heard the recording being played outside his Brooklyn home. Burke listed Brooklyn as the defendant’s work address.
Venue analysis
Federal law allows a civil case to be filed where a defendant resides, where a substantial part of the relevant events occurred, or, when neither of those options is available, where a defendant is subject to the court’s personal jurisdiction. The court found that Burke did not allege that any defendant resided in the Southern District of New York or that a substantial part of the events occurred there. Because the alleged events occurred in Brooklyn, Kings County, the court concluded that venue was proper in the Eastern District of New York.
Disposition
The court transferred the action to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), the federal law allowing transfer when venue is improper. The order closed the case in the Southern District of New York, directed that no summons issue there, and left the decision about whether Burke could proceed without prepaying fees to the transferee court. The court certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for an appeal. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.