Thompson v. McDonough
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-03788
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Thompson v. McDonough, Judge Swain transferred the action to the Eastern District of New York after Thompson did not respond to a court order.
Cassandra Thompson, whose action was transferred from the Southern District of New York to the Eastern District of New York; the receiving court will decide her request for volunteer counsel.
What happened
In Thompson v. McDonough, Cassandra Thompson, who was representing herself, was ordered to explain why the case should not be transferred to the Eastern District of New York. The court gave her 30 days to file a declaration and warned that the case would be transferred if she did not respond.
Thompson did not file the required declaration within the allowed time. The court therefore transferred the action to the Eastern District of New York under the federal venue-transfer law, 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). The receiving court will decide whether to grant Thompson’s request for the court to seek a volunteer lawyer.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the clerk to transfer the action and said that no summons would be issued by the Southern District of New York. She closed the action in that court and denied fee-free appeal status because any appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Thompson v. McDonough · No. 1:22-cv-03788
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 4, 2022
Background
Cassandra Thompson appeared without a lawyer. In an order dated May 31, 2022, the court directed her to file a declaration within 30 days explaining why the case should not be transferred to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The court warned that it would transfer the action if she did not file the declaration on time.
Ruling
The court stated that Thompson had not filed the required declaration within the permitted period. For the reasons discussed in the May 31 order, the court transferred the action to the Eastern District of New York under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), the federal statute governing transfer of a case to another federal district.
Effect of the Order
The court directed its clerk to transfer the action. It did not decide whether Thompson’s request for the court to seek volunteer legal counsel should be granted; that decision was left to the Eastern District of New York. The Southern District of New York would not issue a summons, and the order closed the action in that court.
The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Thompson permission to appeal without paying filing fees. The opinion does not state that the receiving court had ruled on the request for counsel or on the underlying claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.