Reyes v. Superior Court of California, County of Orange ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 11 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 12 13 MR. FIDEL L. REYES, Case No. 1:20-cv-01011-NONE-SKO 14 Plaintiff, ORDER TRANSFERRING CASE 15 v. 16 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, 17 COUNTY OF ORANGE, et al., 18 Defendants. 19 _____________________________________/ 20 On July 23, 2020, Plaintiff Mr. Fidel R. Reyes, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, filed a 21 complaint against Defendants Superior Court of California, County of Orange; Orange County 22 Investigators; “District Attorneys” at the Superior Court of California, Orange County; “Judge” at 23 the Superior Court of California, Orange County; and “BOP at CDCR.” (Doc. 1.) The complaint 24 purports to allege claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violations of Plaintiff’s constitutional 25 rights, apparently arising from his arrest, investigation, prosecution, conviction, and sentencing by 26 those located in Orange County. (See id.) 27 28 1 The federal venue statute requires that a civil action, other than one based on diversity 2 jurisdiction, be brought only in “(1) a judicial district in which any defendant resides, if all 3 defendants are residents of the State in which the district is located; (2) a judicial district in which a 4 substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred, or a substantial part of 5 property that is the subject of the action is situated; or (3) if there is no district in which an action 6 may otherwise be brought as provided in this section, any judicial district in which any defendant is 7 subject to the court's personal jurisdiction with respect to such action.” 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b). 8 While Plaintiff is currently housed at a correctional institution within this judicial district,1 9 none of the defendants as specified reside in this district.2 In addition, the claims are alleged to have 10 arisen at the Superior Court of California, County of Orange (see Doc. 1 at 1), which is in the 11 Southern Division of the Central District of California. Therefore, Plaintiff’s suit should have been 12 filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division. In 13 the interest of justice, a federal court may transfer a complaint filed in the wrong district to the 14 correct district. See 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a); Abrams Shell v. Shell Oil Co., 165 F. Supp. 2d 1096, 1103 15 (C.D. Cal. 2001). 16 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that this matter is transferred to the United States 17 District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division. 18 IT IS SO ORDERED. 19 Sheila K. Oberto 20 Dated: July 23, 2020 /s/ . UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 Plaintiff alleges he is currently an inmate at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, California. (See Doc. 1 at 1.) 28 2 All of the defendants are listed as located in Orange County, except for “BOP at CDCR,” whose location is