Cruz v. Gonzalez

Filing 3

INTRADISTRICT TRANSFER ORDER from Sacramento (2:17-cv-2547 MCE EFB PC) to Fresno (1:17-cv-1548 MJS PC) signed by Magistrate Judge Edmund F. Brennan on 1/31/2018. This case is returned to the Fresno Division for the convenience of the parties and witnesses and in the interest of justice. All future filing shall bear the Fresno case number 1:17-cv-1548 MJS.(Yin, K)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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GUILLERMO TRUJILLO CRUZ,

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No. 2:17-cv-2547-MCE-EFB P

Plaintiff,
v.

ORDER

C/O M. GONZALEZ,

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Defendant.

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Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding without counsel in an action brought under 42

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U.S.C. § 1983. He commenced this action by filing a complaint in the Fresno Division of this

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court. ECF No. 1. Shortly thereafter, the case was transferred to the Sacramento Division on the

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grounds that the alleged violations of plaintiff’s civil rights by “defendants,” had taken place in

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Lassen County.1 ECF No. 2.

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The complaint, however, names a single defendant. Defendant Gonzalez is a correctional

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officer at Kern Valley State Prison, which falls within the Fresno Division of the court. Id. at 2.

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Plaintiff asserts three claims against her: (1) that she sexually harassed him from May 10, 2016

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through July 29, 2016; (2) that she retaliated against him because of his rejection of her sexual

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advances by having plaintiff transferred to High Desert State Prison and arranging for him to be

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Plaintiff responded to a question on the form prisoner complaint asking that he identify
the “Institution/city where violation occurred,” by writing “High Desert State Prison Facility - C
upper yard.” Id. at 1. The High Desert State Prison is in Lassen County, which falls within the
Sacramento Division of the court. As noted below, the case involves a single defendant whose
acts allegedly occurred at Kern Valley State Prison, not High Desert.
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assaulted upon his arrival; and (3) that shortly after his arrival at High Desert State Prison, an

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inmate stabbed him pursuant to Gonzalez’s order. Id. at 3-5. Although the alleged stabbing

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occurred in Lassen County at High Desert State Prison, defendant Gonzalez’s alleged violations

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of plaintiff’s civil rights arose in Kern County and most of the alleged events occurred in Kern

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County. For the convenience of the defendant, her attorneys, and any witnesses, particularly in

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the event this case proceeds to trial, this case should be litigated in the Fresno Division of the

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court.

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Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that for the convenience of the parties and

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witnesses and in the interests of justice, this case will be returned to the Fresno Division of this

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court, as case number 1:17-cv-01548-MJS. See 28 U.S.C. § 1404. All future filings shall bear

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the Fresno case number and shall be filed at:

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United States District Court
Eastern District of California
2500 Tulare Street
Fresno, CA 93721
DATED: January 31, 2018.

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