Jackowski v. Sellars
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-07763
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Jackowski v. Sellars, Judge Swain transferred the property-removal case to the Northern District of New York.
Christopher Thomas Jackowski, Cheryl Ann Sellars, and Eric Gross; the case was moved from the Southern District of New York to the Northern District of New York.
What happened
Jackowski v. Sellars is a case brought without a lawyer by Christopher Thomas Jackowski, who alleges that Cheryl Ann Sellars and Eric Gross removed property from his home and sold it in Onondaga County, New York.
The court determined that the events and likely witnesses and documents were connected to Onondaga County, which is in the Northern District of New York. It therefore found that district to be more convenient and transferred the case there.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered the transfer, directed the clerk to close the case, and said the transferee court would decide whether Jackowski could continue without paying filing fees. She also denied fee-free status for any appeal from the order.
The detailed version
- Jackowski v. Sellars · No. 1:22-cv-07763
- Laura Swain
- Sept. 13, 2022
Background
Christopher Thomas Jackowski brought this action without a lawyer. He alleges that Cheryl Ann Sellars and Eric Gross removed his property from his home and sold it in Onondaga County, New York. The opinion states that Jackowski listed both an Onondaga County, New York, address and an Earleville, Maryland, address. Sellars was identified as residing in Onondaga County, while Jackowski did not provide an address for Gross; the allegations suggested that Gross also resided there.
Venue and Transfer
The court explained that federal law permits a civil action to be brought where a defendant resides, where a substantial part of the events occurred, or, in some circumstances, where a defendant is subject to the court’s authority. The alleged events occurred in Syracuse and East Syracuse, both in Onondaga County, and Sellars was alleged to reside in that county. Onondaga County is within the Northern District of New York. The court stated that even if venue were proper in the Southern District of New York based on Gross’s possible residence there, venue would also be proper in the Northern District of New York because the events occurred there.
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), a court may transfer a case to another district where it could have been brought when doing so would serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses and the interests of justice. The court concluded that transfer appeared appropriate because the underlying events occurred in Onondaga County, Sellars resided there, Gross appeared to reside there, and the relevant documents and witnesses could reasonably be expected to be there.
Disposition
The court ordered the action transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York. It directed that no summons issue from the Southern District of New York and stated that the order closed the case there. The transferee court was left to decide whether Jackowski could proceed without prepaying 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. The order did not decide the merits of Jackowski’s allegations.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.