Cuevas v. Meyers ( 2021 )

a UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA ALEXANDRIA DIVISION SEBASTIAN CUEVAS #450912, CIVIL DOCKET NO. 1:20-CV-01708 Plaintiff SEC P VERSUS JUDGE DAVID C. JOSEPH MARCUS MEYERS ET AL, MAGISTRATE JUDGE PEREZ-MONTES Defendants MEMORANDUM ORDER Before the Court is the civil rights Complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (ECF No. 1) filed by Plaintiff Sebastian Cuevas (“Cuevas”). Cuevas is an inmate in the custody of the Louisiana Department of Corrections, incarcerated at the Raymond Laborde Correctional Center (“RLCC”) in Cottonport, Louisiana. In his Amended Complaint (ECF No. 11), Cuevas alleges that he suffered constitutional violations at Plaquemines Parish Detention Center (“PPDC”), Elayn Hunt Correctional Center (“EHCC”), and RLCC. Under the venue provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b), venue is appropriate in either: (1) a judicial district in which any defendant resides; or (2) in a judicial district in which a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred. Still, even when venue is proper, a court may determine that, in the interest of justice, an action between multiple defendants should be severed and certain claims transferred to a more convenient forum. , 16-CV-16993, 2017 WL 2270024, at *3 (E.D. La. Apr. 25, 2017), report and recommendation adopted, 2017 WL 2256778 (E.D. La. May 23, 2017) (citations omitted); 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). Thus, for the convenience of parties and witnesses and in the interest of justice, a court may transfer any civil action to any other district or division where it might have been brought. 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). Although RLCC is located within this judicial district, EHCC and its employees are located within the Middle District of Louisiana, and PPDC and its employees are located within the Eastern District of Louisiana. Different witnesses and evidence are necessary to establish or support the claims against the defendants at each facility. And the settlement or resolution of the claims involving alleged violations at RLCC would not facilitate resolution of the unrelated claims against the EHCC and PPDC defendants. Therefore, in the interest of justice, IT IS ORDERED that Cuevas’s claims against the EHCC defendants and PPDC defendants be severed and transferred to those respective district courts. The RLCC claims will remain in this Court. SIGNED on Thursday, April 8, 2021. THLE, JOSEPH H.L. PEREZ-MONTES UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE