Torres v. Sher Tremonte LLP
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-02761
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Torres v. Sher Tremonte LLP, Judge Swain transferred Torres’s racketeering lawsuit to New Jersey because it arose from a New Jersey criminal case and related lawsuit.
Jose O. Torres and the defendants he sued: Sher Tremonte LLP, Justin Sher, Michael Tremonte, Noam Korati Biale, Kimo Peluso, and Anna Maria Estevao. The action was moved from the Southern District of New York to the District of New Jersey.
What happened
In Torres v. Sher Tremonte LLP, Jose O. Torres, representing himself, sued a law firm and several individuals under the federal racketeering law known as RICO. The claims arose from a criminal case in the District of New Jersey.
The Southern District of New York said New Jersey was the more appropriate forum. Torres was detained in Newark, identified as a Newark resident, and had filed a substantially similar case in the District of New Jersey involving many of the same defendants and facts. The court also noted that it had transferred an apparently identical earlier complaint to New Jersey.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain transferred the action to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey under a federal convenience-and-justice statute and closed the case in New York. The court said the New Jersey court would decide whether Torres could continue without paying filing fees, directed that no summons issue from New York, and denied fee-free status for any appeal from the order.
The detailed version
- Torres v. Sher Tremonte LLP · No. 1:24-cv-02761
- Laura Swain
- Apr. 15, 2024
Background
Jose O. Torres, who was representing himself and was detained at Essex County Jail in Newark, New Jersey, brought an action under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a federal law commonly called RICO. He sued Sher Tremonte LLP; Justin Sher; Michael Tremonte; Noam Korati Biale; Kimo Peluso; and Anna Maria Estevao. The claims arose from Torres’s criminal case in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
Why the Court Transferred the Case
The court applied 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), which permits a federal court to transfer a case for the convenience of the parties and witnesses and in the interest of justice. The court explained that it could order a transfer on its own initiative.
The court found transfer appropriate because Torres was identified as a Newark resident, his claims arose from a criminal case in the District of New Jersey, and he had filed a substantially similar civil action in that district involving the same facts and many of the same defendants. The court therefore treated the District of New Jersey as the preferred forum under the rule generally favoring the court where a similar case was filed first.
The court also noted that Torres had previously filed what appeared to be an identical complaint in the Southern District of New York, which the court had transferred to New Jersey on April 1, 2024. It warned that continuing to file cases in New York when that district was an improper venue could lead to an order requiring Torres to explain why he should not be barred from filing new cases there without advance permission.
Ruling
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered the Clerk of Court to transfer the action to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. The order closed the case in the Southern District of New York. It stated that the transferee court would decide whether Torres could proceed without paying filing fees, and it directed that no summons issue from the New York court.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for the purpose of an appeal.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.