Stewart v. Boeing Company
- Gregory Woods
- 1:23-cv-02225
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Stewart v. Boeing Company, Judge Woods transferred Stewart’s patent-infringement case to Delaware because venue was improper in New York.
Charles Stewart’s case against Boeing Company was moved from the Southern District of New York to the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. The case was closed in the New York court, and no summons was to issue there.
What happened
Charles Stewart, representing himself, sued Boeing Company in Stewart v. Boeing Company over what the court understood to be patent infringement. He did not state where the alleged infringement occurred or where Boeing had a regular business location connected to it.
The court ruled that New York was not a proper location for the case under the patent-infringement venue rules. It found that Delaware was a proper location because Boeing was recognized as incorporated there, and transferred the case there rather than dismissing it.
Judge Gregory H. Woods ordered the clerk to transfer the case to the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, directed that no summons issue from the New York court, and closed the case there. The court also denied fee-free status for any appeal.
The detailed version
- Stewart v. Boeing Company · No. 1:23-cv-02225
- Gregory Woods
- Mar. 22, 2023
Background
Charles Stewart filed this action without a lawyer against Boeing Company. The court understood his allegations to assert patent-infringement claims. Stewart paid the filing fees. The opinion states that Stewart did not identify where Boeing allegedly infringed his patent or patents, or whether Boeing had a regular and established place of business in that location.
Venue analysis
Venue means the proper federal court location for a case. For patent-infringement actions, the court explained that the case may be brought where the defendant resides or where the defendant committed infringement and has a regular and established place of business.
The court found that Stewart had not alleged facts showing that Boeing committed infringement in the Southern District of New York and also had a regular and established place of business there. The court further stated that Stewart had not identified where Boeing was incorporated. Relying on decisions recognizing that Boeing is incorporated in Delaware, the court concluded that the District of Delaware was a proper venue under the residency portion of the patent venue rule.
Disposition
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), when a case is filed in the wrong venue, a court may dismiss it or, when justice requires, transfer it to a district where it could have been filed. The court chose to transfer this action to the District of Delaware because venue was proper there and Stewart had not shown why another federal district was proper.
The court ordered the clerk to transfer the action without delay to the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. It directed that a summons not issue from the Southern District of New York and stated that the order closed the action in that court. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Stewart fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. Judge Gregory H. Woods signed the order.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.