Flores v. Gonzalez

Background

Valerie Flores filed this action without a lawyer. She described it as a motion seeking an injunction against multiple individuals in the Madison, Wisconsin, area and asking that the proceedings be sealed from the public. The caption names Jason Gonzalez as the defendant, while the opinion refers to several individuals whom Flores named as defendants. Flores provided a post office box in Albany, New York, as her mailing address.

Venue analysis

The court applied 28 U.S.C. § 1391, the federal venue statute. That statute generally permits a civil case to be brought where the defendants reside or where a substantial part of the events giving rise to the claims occurred. The court stated that the named individuals appeared to reside in Madison, Wisconsin, and that the alleged conduct occurred there. Because both the defendants and the alleged events were in Madison, the court concluded from the face of the complaint that venue was not proper in the Southern District of New York.

Disposition

Under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), when a case is filed in the wrong venue, a court may dismiss it or, in the interest of justice, transfer it to a district where it could have been brought. The court found that the claims arose in Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin, which is in the Western District of Wisconsin. It therefore transferred the action to the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.

The order directed the Clerk of Court to transfer the action, stated that a summons would not issue from the Southern District of New York, and closed the case there. The court directed the Clerk to terminate all motions. Because Flores had not paid the filing fees or requested that they be waived, the court left any decision about proceeding without prepayment of fees to the transferee court. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal.