Johnson v. Attorney General of the United States

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO
WESTERN DIVISION
ZACHARY JOHNSON, et al., Case No. 1:12-cv-964
Plaintiffs,
Weber, J.
vs. Litkovitz, M.J.
ATTORNEY GENERAL
OF THE UNITED STATES, et al., ORDER
Defendants
Plaintiffs, inmates at the South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Leakesville,
Mississippi, bring this pro se civil rights action against United States Attorney General Eric
Holder, Jr.; Attorney General ofthe State ofMississippi Jim Hood; federal judges Keith Starrett,
James L. Dennis, E. Grady Jolly Jr., Carolyn Dineen King, Jerry E. Smith, Patrick E.
Higginbotham, and Royce C. Lamberth; and United States Department of Justice Director of the
Torts Branch, Phyllis J. Pyles. Plaintiff Johnson has filed an application to proceed in forma
pauperis pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915.
Venue lies in the judicial district where either all defendants reside or where the claim
arose. Al-Muhaymin v. Jones, 895 F.2d 1147, 1148 (6th Cir. 1990); 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b). The
individual defendants reside in Washington, D.C., Jackson, Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi,
New Orleans, Louisiana, Houston, Texas, and Austin, Texas. None of the defendants reside in
the Southern District of Ohio. The claims asserted in the complaint relate to events that are
alleged to have occurred in Washington, D.C., and not the Southern District of Ohio. Therefore,
this Court is not the proper venue for plaintiffs' claims.
"The district court of a district in which is filed a case laying venue in the wrong division or
district shall dismiss, or if it be in the interest ofjustice, transfer such case to any district or division
in which it could have been brought." 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a). Since this district is the improper
venue for plaintiffs' claims against the defendants, the Court shall transfer this action to the United
States District Court for the District of Columbia, for further proceedings.
Accordingly, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), the Clerk of Courts is hereby DIRECTED
TO TRANSFER this case to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, for
ruling on plaintiffs in forma pauperis application and all further proceedings.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Date: ````;<_
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United States Magistrate Judge
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