Nobile v. All Womans Pavillion
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-01140
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Nobile v. All Womans Pavillion, Judge Swain transferred the pro se federal-rights case to the Eastern District of New York.
Natacha Nobile and All Womans Pavillion; the action was transferred from the Southern District of New York to the Eastern District of New York.
What happened
In Nobile v. All Womans Pavillion, Natacha Nobile brought a case without a lawyer, alleging that the defendant violated her federally protected rights. Nobile resides in Queens County, and the defendant and alleged events are also in Queens County.
The court said venue was proper in the Eastern District of New York because the relevant events occurred there. It transferred the case to that district because Queens County appeared to be more convenient for the parties, witnesses, and documents.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered the transfer, directed the Clerk to send the case to the Eastern District of New York, and closed the case in her court. The court also said a summons would not issue and denied Nobile permission to proceed without prepaying fees for any appeal.
The detailed version
- Nobile v. All Womans Pavillion · No. 1:24-cv-01140
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 7, 2024
Background
Natacha Nobile filed this pro se action, meaning she was proceeding without a lawyer, under the court’s federal-question jurisdiction. She alleged that All Womans Pavillion violated her federally protected rights. The opinion states that Nobile resides in Whitestone, in Queens County, New York, and that All Womans Pavillion is located in Forest Hills, also in Queens County.
Venue and Transfer
Venue is the proper federal court location for a case. The court explained that federal law permits a civil action to be filed where a defendant resides, where a substantial part of the events occurred, or, in some circumstances, where a defendant is subject to the court’s authority. Queens County is within the Eastern District of New York. Because Nobile alleged that the events occurred at All Womans Pavillion in Queens County, the court concluded that venue was proper in the Eastern District of New York.
The court also applied 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), which allows a court to transfer a case to another proper federal district for the convenience of the parties and witnesses and in the interest of justice. It found that transfer appeared appropriate because the underlying events occurred in Queens County, where Nobile resides, and it was reasonable to expect that relevant documents and witnesses would also be located there.
Disposition
The court transferred the action to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. It directed the Clerk of Court to carry out the transfer, stated that whether Nobile could proceed without prepaying filing fees would be decided by the transferee court, and ordered that no summons issue from the Southern District of New York. The order states that it closes this case. The court also certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal.
The opinion’s footnote states that Nobile filed this action on February 12, 2024, before a February 21, 2024 order barring her from filing new civil actions without first obtaining permission to proceed without prepaying fees. The court therefore said that bar did not apply to this action.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.