Opinion
No. CIV S-08-2660 GEB EFB PS.
May 29, 2009
ORDER
On January 23, 2009, this court ordered plaintiff to submit an application to proceed in forma pauperis, or pay the appropriate filing fee. Plaintiff has now submitted the requisite information, and it has become clear that plaintiff is (and was at the time he filed this action) incarcerated at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga (San Bernardino County), California. While plaintiff seeks to amend his complaint, the initially filed complaint challenges the actions, inter alia, of California State Bar "supervisor" Lisa Stowe, and former attorney (now San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge) John Perry Wade, resulting in plaintiff's current incarceration. It is clear from the complaint that plaintiff has filed this action in the wrong district.
This action was initially designated a "prisoner case," but redesignated a "pro se" case because the originally filed complaint failed to reflect plaintiff's incarceration.
A civil action, other than one based on diversity jurisdiction, must 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).
Here, plaintiff and at least one defendant are located in San Bernardino County (plaintiff references defendant Stowe as "LA County"), and the claim(s) appear to have arose in San Bernardino County, which is located in the Eastern Division of the U.S. District Court, Central District of California. 28 U.S.C. § 84(c)(1). Accordingly, in the interest of justice, this action is transferred to the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Eastern Division. See 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a); Starnes v. McGuire, 512 F.2d 918, 932 (D.C. Cir. 1974).
So ordered.