Opinion
3:24-cv-212-KAP
09-23-2024
LAMAR STROTHERS, Plaintiff v. OFFICER STUTZ, et al., Defendants
MEMORANDUM ORDER
KEITH A. PESTO, UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
On September 10, 2024, plaintiff Strothers, imprisoned at S.C.I. Laurel Highlands (in Somerset County, in the Western District of Pennsylvania), submitted a civil complaint alleging that on April 19, 2023 a corrections officer at the Lycoming County Prison (in Lycoming County, in the Middle District of Pennsylvania) assaulted him; three other corrections personnel there were named defendants for their alleged failures to prevent the assault.
Because the events alleged to give rise to the claim happened in the Middle District and plaintiff has not identified any defendants not residing there, under 28 U.S.C.§ 1391(b) venue is proper in the Middle District and is not apparently proper here.
The Clerk shall transfer this matter to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania for disposition of the motion to proceed in forma pauperis as that Court deems appropriate. See 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) (“For convenience of the parties and witnesses, in the interest of justice, a district court may transfer any civil action to any other district or division where it might have been brought.”). See Smith v. Ebbert, No. CV 20-1736, 2021 WL 1986416, at *1 n.2 (W.D. Pa. May 18, 2021)(authority of Magistrate Judge to transfer, citing inter alia Bond v. McKean County, No. 4:19-CV-1535, 2019 WL 4452228, at *1 n.1 (M.D. Pa. Sept. 17, 2019). Upon transfer, the Clerk shall mark this matter closed.