Pittman v. State of Georgia
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-02906
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Pittman v. State of Georgia, Chief Judge Swain transferred the action from New York to Georgia because venue was improper.
Nadira A. Pittman, the State of Georgia, and The Mark Atlanta; the action will proceed, if permitted, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia rather than the Southern District of New York.
What happened
In Pittman v. State of Georgia, Nadira A. Pittman, representing herself, sued the State of Georgia and The Mark Atlanta over alleged federal-rights violations in Atlanta, Georgia.
The court found that the claims arose outside the Southern District of New York and that the defendants did not reside there, so the case was filed in the wrong venue. It transferred the case to the federal court for the Northern District of Georgia rather than dismissing it.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the clerk to transfer the action and closed the case in New York. She also denied fee-free status for any appeal, while leaving the decision about whether Pittman may proceed without paying filing fees to the Georgia court.
The detailed version
- Pittman v. State of Georgia · No. 1:24-cv-02906
- Laura Swain
- Apr. 19, 2024
Background
Nadira A. Pittman brought this pro se action against the State of Georgia and The Mark Atlanta. The opinion describes The Mark Atlanta as appearing to be a housing complex. Pittman alleged that the defendants violated her federal rights in Atlanta, Georgia. She resides in Queens County, New York.
The complaint was not accompanied by filing fees or an application to proceed without prepaying fees, and it was unsigned. The court did not decide whether Pittman’s allegations were legally or factually valid.
Venue Analysis
Venue is the federal judicial district where a civil case may properly be filed. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b), venue generally may be proper where a defendant resides, where a substantial part of the events occurred, or, in certain circumstances, where a defendant is subject to the court’s personal jurisdiction.
The court concluded that, based on the face of the complaint, Pittman’s claims arose in Atlanta and involved parties who did not reside in the Southern District of New York. It therefore found that venue was not proper in that district. Atlanta is in Fulton County, Georgia, within the Northern District of Georgia.
Ruling and 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. Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered the clerk to transfer this action to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division. The order closes the case in the Southern District of New York, and no summons is to issue from that court.
The transferee court will decide whether Pittman may proceed without prepaying fees. The court also certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The classification is procedural because the order resolved venue and transfer, not the underlying federal-rights allegations.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.