Opinion
Civil Action 00-0683-CB-L
November 16, 2000
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
Plaintiff, an Alabama prison inmate who is proceeding pro se, filed an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This action has been referred to the undersigned for appropriate action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636 (b)(1)(B) and Local Rule 72.2(c)(4). It is the undersigned's recommendation that this action be transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
Plaintiff named as Defendants John Nagle, Warden of Bibb County Correctional Facility; Bill Pryor, Attorney General for the State of Alabama; and Michael Haley, Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections. Defendant Nagle is located in Bibb County, Alabama, which is in the Northern District of Alabama, and Defendants Haley and Pryor are both located in Montgomery, Alabama, in the Middle District of Alabama. In this action, Plaintiff claims that he is being improperly classified as a sex offender because he has not been convicted of a sex crime, and he seeks to be reclassified for the offense for which he was convicted and to be removed from the sex offender classification. At the time of filing, Plaintiff was incarcerated at Bibb County Correctional Facility in the Northern District of Alabama (Doc. 1). A § 1983 action may be brought in
(1) a judicial district where any defendant resides, if all defendants reside in the same State, (2) a judicial district in which a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred, or a substantial part of property that is the subject of the action is situated, or (3) a judicial district in which any defendant may be found, if there is no district in which the action may otherwise be brought.28 U.S.C. § 1391 (b); see New Alliance Party of Ala. v. Hand, 933 F.2d 1568, 1570 (11th Cir. 1991) (applying § 1391(b)'s venue provisions to a § 1983 action). However, when venue is not proper in the district of filing, in the interest of justice, a district court may transfer the action to any other district or division where the action might have been brought. 28 U.S.C. § 1406 (a).
In the present action, the events giving rise to Plaintiff's action appear to have occurred in the Middle and the Northern Districts of Alabama. Defendants are located both in the Middle and Northern Districts as are all of the documents concerning Plaintiff's classification. Venue is, therefore, lacking in the Southern District. Considering the involvement, or lack thereof, that each Defendant may possibly have had with Plaintiff's claim, it is recommended that, in the interest of justice, this action be transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1406 (a).
The attached sheet contains important information regarding objections to the Report and Recommendation.