Pittman v. Clayton County Jail

Background

Nadira A. Pittman filed this case without a lawyer and alleged that the defendant violated her rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. The caption identifies the defendant as Clayton County Jail. The opinion’s opening discussion describes Clayton County Jail as being in Clayton County, Georgia, but a footnote and later portions of the opinion instead refer to the defendant as Fulton County Jail and place it in Fulton County, Georgia.

Venue analysis

The court applied 28 U.S.C. § 1391, the federal venue statute. It concluded that venue was not proper in the Southern District of New York because, based on the complaint, the claims arose outside that district and involved a nonresident defendant. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), a court may dismiss a case filed in the wrong venue or transfer it, in the interest of justice, to a district where it could have been brought.

The court determined that venue was proper in the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, under the provision allowing a case to be filed where the defendant resides. It therefore transferred the action to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Litigation history and warning

The court stated that Pittman had filed seven actions in the Southern District of New York during the period identified in the opinion, and that the complaints contained substantially similar allegations. It stated that, including this action, five of her cases had been transferred to the Northern District of Georgia. The court warned that continuing to file similar complaints in the Southern District of New York, particularly after being told that venue was improper, could lead to an order requiring Pittman to explain why she should not be barred from filing new actions there without paying fees and obtaining advance permission.

Disposition

Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to transfer the action to the Northern District of Georgia and stated that the case was closed in the Southern District of New York. The court said that the transferee court would decide whether Pittman could continue without prepaying filing fees, and that no summons would issue from the Southern District of New York. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The order did not decide whether Pittman’s Fourteenth Amendment allegations were legally valid.