Joseph v. Savian Pizza Corp.

Background Rosalyn Joseph filed claims against Savian Pizza Corp., Trinacria Group Staten Island Inc., and Salvatore Lopiccolo. She alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, a federal wage-and-hours law, and New York State law arising from her employment as a delivery worker at defendants’ pizzeria. The complaint was filed in the Southern District of New York, but it stated that venue was proper in the Eastern District of New York because all relevant events and the alleged acts and omissions occurred there.

Venue Under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), when a case is filed in the wrong federal district, the court may dismiss it or, if that serves the interests of justice, transfer it to a district where the case could have been brought. The court concluded that venue did not properly lie in the Southern District of New York. Joseph did not allege that any relevant events or omissions occurred there, and it did not appear that any defendant resided there. The court concluded that the action could have been brought in the Eastern District of New York.

Disposition The court determined that transfer, rather than dismissal, was in the interests of justice. Judge Lewis J. Liman directed the Clerk of Court to transfer the action to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The order addressed venue only and did not resolve the merits of Joseph’s federal or state-law claims.