DeJoy v. One America
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-08650
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In DeJoy v. One America, Judge Swain transferred the ERISA case to Indiana because New York was not a proper venue.
Michael DeJoy's ERISA case was moved from the Southern District of New York to the Southern District of Indiana. One America, American United Life Insurance Company, and Andrea Dube are the defendants affected by the transfer.
What happened
In DeJoy v. One America, Michael DeJoy, representing himself, sued One America, American United Life Insurance Company, and Andrea Dube under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. He did not allege where the plan was administered or where the alleged violation occurred.
The court concluded that the Southern District of New York was not a proper location for the case. DeJoy alleged that the defendants were in Indiana and gave them the same ZIP code, which the court identified as an Indianapolis ZIP code. Indianapolis is in the Southern District of Indiana.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain transferred the case to the Southern District of Indiana under the federal venue statute. The Indiana court will decide whether DeJoy may continue without paying filing fees; no summons will issue from the New York court, and the court denied payment-free status for any appeal.
The detailed version
- DeJoy v. One America · No. 1:22-cv-08650
- Laura Swain
- Oct. 18, 2022
Background
Michael DeJoy filed this case without a lawyer under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, commonly called ERISA. He sued One America, American United Life Insurance Company, and Andrea Dube. The opinion does not describe the underlying ERISA allegations in detail.
Venue analysis
ERISA permits a case to be filed where the relevant plan is administered, where the alleged breach occurred, or where a defendant resides or can be found. DeJoy did not allege where the plan was administered or where the alleged breach occurred. He alleged that all three defendants were located in unspecified places in Indiana and provided the same ZIP code for each defendant. The court identified that ZIP code as one for Indianapolis, Indiana, which is within the Southern District of Indiana.
Because the complaint did not show that the plan, alleged breach, or defendants were connected to the Southern District of New York, the court found that venue there was improper. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), a court may dismiss a case filed in the wrong venue or transfer it to a district where it could have been brought when transfer is in the interest of justice.
Ruling
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to transfer the action to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. The order closed the action in the Southern District of New York. It stated that the transferee court would decide whether DeJoy could proceed without prepaying fees, and that no summons would issue from the New York court. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied payment-free status for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.