Kenner v. Commissioner of Social Security
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-09421
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Kenner v. Commissioner of Social Security, Judge Swain transferred the disability-benefits case to the Eastern District of New York because venue was improper.
The plaintiff, who sought review of the denial of Social Security disability benefits, and the Commissioner of Social Security. The case was transferred from the Southern District of New York to the Eastern District of New York.
What happened
Kenner, representing herself, asked the court to review the Social Security Administration’s denial of disability benefits. She alleged that she lived in Brooklyn, which is in Kings County.
The court explained that Social Security review cases must be filed in the federal district where the plaintiff lives. Because Kings County is in the Eastern District of New York, the Southern District of New York was not the proper venue.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered the case transferred to the Eastern District of New York under the federal venue-transfer statute. The Southern District case was closed, no summons would issue there, and the transferee court would decide whether Kenner could proceed without paying filing fees. The court also denied fee-free status for any appeal from this order.
The detailed version
- Kenner v. Commissioner of Social Security · No. 1:23-cv-09421
- Laura Swain
- Oct. 30, 2023
Background
The plaintiff, proceeding without a lawyer, brought this action under the Social Security Act to seek judicial review of the Commissioner of Social Security’s decision denying her application for disability benefits. The opinion states that she alleged she resides in Brooklyn, in Kings County, New York.
Venue
The court held that a Social Security review action under 42 U.S.C. §§ 405(g) and 1383(c)(3) may be filed only in the federal district where the plaintiff resides, where the plaintiff has a principal place of business, or, if neither applies, in the District of Columbia. Because the plaintiff alleged that she resides in Brooklyn, venue was not proper in the Southern District of New York. Kings County is within the Eastern District of New York, so the court concluded that venue was proper there.
Order
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), the court directed the Clerk to transfer the action to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The court did not decide whether the Commissioner’s disability-benefits decision was correct. It stated that the transferee court would determine whether the plaintiff could proceed without paying fees. The Southern District of New York case was closed, and no summons would issue from that 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.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.