Cruz v. Fed. Butner Mental Health Hosp.

Full title: ABRAHAM CRUZ, Plaintiff, v. FEDERAL BUTNER MENTAL HEALTH HOSPITAL, et al.…

Court: United States District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania

Date published: Jul 20, 2023

1:20-CV-01931 (M.D. Pa. Jul. 20, 2023)

Opinion

1:20-CV-01931

07-20-2023

ABRAHAM CRUZ, Plaintiff, v. FEDERAL BUTNER MENTAL HEALTH HOSPITAL, et al., Defendants.

MATTHEW W. BRANN CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

SCHWAB, MAGISTRATE JUDGE

ORDER

MATTHEW W. BRANN CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Abraham Cruz filed this civil rights complaint alleging that numerous defendants violated his constitutional rights during his incarceration at a federal prison and medical center in Butner, North Carolina.¹ Magistrate Judge Susan E. Schwab has issued a Report and Recommendation recommending that this Court transfer Cruz's complaint to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, as venue properly lies within that District.² Cruz has not filed timely objections to the Report and Recommendation.

1 Doc. 1.

2 Doc. 25.

“Where no objection is made to a report and recommendation, this Court will review the recommendation only for clear error.³ Conversely, “[i]f a party objects timely to a magistrate judge's report and recommendation, the district court must ‘make a de novo determination of those portions of the report or specified proposed findings or recommendations to which objection is made.'”⁴ Regardless of whether timely objections are made, district courts may accept, reject, or modify-in whole or in part-the magistrate judge's findings or recommendations.⁵ Upon review of the record, the Court finds no error-clear or otherwise-in Magistrate Judge Schwab's conclusion that venue is improper in this District and that this action should be transferred to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, where “a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred.”⁶ Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:

3 Fed.R.Civ.P. 72(b), advisory committee notes; see Henderson v. Carlson, 812 F.2d 874, 878 (3d Cir. 1987) (explaining that court should in some manner review recommendations regardless of whether objections were filed).

4 Equal Emp't Opportunity Comm'n v. City of Long Branch, 866 F.3d 93, 99 (3d Cir. 2017) (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)).

5 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1); Local Rule 72.31.

6 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b)(2).

1. Magistrate Judge Susan E. Schwab's Report and Recommendation (Doc. 25) is ADOPTED;

2. The Clerk of Court is directed to TRANSFER this complaint to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina;

3. A ruling on Cruz's pending motion to proceed in forma pauperis (Doc. 22) is DEFERRED to the transferee court; and

4. The Clerk of Court is directed to CLOSE this case.