Song v. Kranz
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-03528
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Song v. Kranz, Judge Swain transferred the action to California, ending the Southern District of New York case without deciding the claims.
Eugenia Song and Ashley Kranz; the case was moved from the Southern District of New York to the Central District of California.
What happened
In Song v. Kranz, Eugenia Song, representing herself, sued Ashley Kranz. Song alleged that Kranz contacted someone at the University of Pennsylvania about her and appeared to assert claims involving assault, libel, and slander. Song sought an order requiring Kranz to correct a situation with Song’s unidentified employer.
The court found that venue was proper in the Central District of California because Kranz was alleged to reside in Los Angeles. Song did not reside in the Southern District of New York, and her complaint did not show that a substantial part of the events occurred there. The court did not decide whether venue was proper in New York because transferring the case was warranted regardless.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered the case transferred to the United States District Court for the Central District of California and directed the Clerk to close the Southern District of New York case. The New York court did not issue a summons or decide whether Song could proceed without paying filing fees; the receiving court would decide that question. The court also denied fee-free status for any appeal from this order because it certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Song v. Kranz · No. 1:24-cv-03528
- Laura Swain
- May 22, 2024
Background
Eugenia Song brought this action without a lawyer. She invoked the court’s authority to hear disputes between citizens of different states and sued Ashley Kranz, whom Song alleged was an employee of a business in Santa Monica, California. The court treated Song’s May 15, 2024 application as her operative amended complaint.
Song alleged that she was located in or resided in Dallas County, Texas, and that Kranz was in California. She alleged that Kranz contacted someone at the University of Pennsylvania about her and appeared to assert claims for assault, libel, and slander. Song requested an order directing Kranz to “rectify the situation with [Song’s] employer,” but the employer was not identified.
Venue and transfer
Federal venue rules generally allow a civil case to be filed where a defendant resides, where a substantial part of the events occurred, or, in limited circumstances, where a defendant is subject to the court’s authority. The court concluded that venue was proper in the Central District of California because Kranz was alleged to reside in Los Angeles, which is in that district.
The court found that Song did not reside in the Southern District of New York and that the complaint did not indicate that a substantial part of the events giving rise to her claims occurred there. The court expressly did not decide whether venue was proper in the Southern District of New York, explaining that transfer would be warranted even if it were proper.
Ruling and effect
The court ordered the action transferred to the United States District Court for the Central District of California under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1404(a) and 1406(a). It construed Song’s May 15 application as the amended complaint, directed the Clerk to transfer the action, and closed the case in the Southern District of New York.
The court did not issue a summons. It also left to the receiving court the question whether Song could proceed without paying filing fees, because Song had not paid the fees or submitted a request to proceed without prepayment. The court certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.