WESTERN WATERSHEDS PROJECT et al v. JEWELL et al
Filing
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MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER granting 11 Defendants' Motion to Change Venue and transferring the case to the United States District of Utah. Signed by Judge Christopher R. Cooper on 9/23/2014. (lccrc2, )
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
WESTERN WATERSHEDS PROJECT,
COTTONWOOD ENVIRONMENTAL
LAW CENTER,
Plaintiffs,
Case No. 1:14-cv-00742 (CRC)
v.
SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR
SALLY JEWELL,
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE,
Defendants.
OPINION AND ORDER
This case is about two species of cacti that are dear to both the environmental groups
bringing this action and, apparently, the cows grazing in Utah's Capital Reef National Park. The
groups have sued Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewel and the National Park Service for allegedly
endangering the existence of the cacti by permitting cattle to graze in the park. The Secretary and
the Park Service have filed a motion to transfer venue, arguing that this is essentially a local dispute
that belongs in Utah rather than Washington, D.C. The Court agrees. It will grant the motion and
transfer the case to United States District of Utah.
I.
Background
Plaintiffs Western Watersheds Project (“WWP”) and Cottonwood Environmental Law
Center (“Cottonwood”) are nonprofit organizations dedicated to the protection and restoration of
wildlife and watersheds, including endangered species. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 10–11. WWP is located in
Hailey, Idaho, and Cottonwood is located in Bozeman, Montana. Defs.’ Mem. in Supp. of Mot. to
Change Venue 8. They filed a suit in this Court alleging that the National Park Service (“NPS”)
violated the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 4332, et seq., the
Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. § 706, and the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”),
16 U.S.C. § 1536, by permitting cattle grazing in Utah’s Capitol Reef National Park in a manner
that threatens the existence of two species of rare cacti, Sclerocactus wrightiae and Pediocactus
winkleri. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 1–4.
In response, Secretary Jewell and NPS answered the Complaint and moved to transfer the
case to the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. Defs.’ Answer; Defs.’ Mot. to Change
Venue. Secretary Jewell and NPS argue that the District of Utah is the appropriate venue for this
suit because Capitol Reef National Park, the local NPS offices responsible for Capitol Reef, the two
species of cacti, and the administrative record are all located in Utah. Defs.’ Mot. to Change Venue
at 1; Mem. in Supp. at 5. They also assert that transferring the case would not inconvenience the
parties, particularly since WWP and Cottonwood are located much closer to Utah than the District
of Columbia. Id. WWP and Cottonwood oppose the motion, contending that the issues being
litigated carry national significance; that transfer would prejudice their interests; and that this Court
could resolve the case efficiently because the average judge’s docket in this district is quantitatively
smaller than that in the District of Utah. Pls.’ Opp’n. at 1.
II.
Standard of Review
“For the convenience of 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[.]” 28
U.S.C. § 1404(a). In actions against officers or employees of the United States, venue is proper in
any district where “(A) a defendant in the action resides, [or] (B) a substantial part of the events or
omissions giving rise to the claim occurred, or a substantial part of property that is the subject of the
action is situated[.]” 28 U.S.C. 1391(e)(1). District courts exercise their discretion to decide
whether to grant a motion to change venue “according to individualized, case-by-case consideration
of fairness.” Stewart Org., Inc. v. Ricoh Corp., 487 U.S. 22, 29 (1988) (quoting Van Dusen v.
Barrack, 376 U.S. 612, 622, (1964) (internal quotation marks omitted)). Yet, “a court may not
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transfer a case from a plaintiff's chosen forum simply because another forum, in the court's view,
may be superior to that chosen by the plaintiff.” W. Watersheds Project v. Pool, 942 F. Supp. 2d
93, 96 (D.D.C. 2013) (quoting Sierra Club v. Van Antwerp, 523 F.Supp.2d. 5, 11 (D.D.C.2007)
(internal quotation marks omitted)).
In deciding motions to transfer, district courts consider both private interest factors of the
parties involved as well as public interest factors that “come under the heading of ‘the interest of
justice.’” Stewart, 487 U.S. at 30. The private interest factors include: “(1) the plaintiff's choice of
forum; (2) the defendant's choice of forum; (3) whether the claim arose elsewhere; (4) the
convenience of the parties; (5) the convenience of the witnesses; and (6) the ease of access to
sources of proof.” Sierra Club v. Flowers, 276 F.Supp.2d 62, 65 (D.D.C. 2003). The public interest
factors are: “(1) the transferee's familiarity with the governing laws; (2) the relative congestion of
the calendars of the transferor and transferee courts; and (3) the local interest in deciding local
controversies at home.” Id. The moving party bears the burden of establishing that transfer
satisfies these criteria. S. Utah Wilderness Alliance v. Lewis, 845 F.Supp.2d 231, 234 (D.D.C.
2012).
III.
Analysis
Both this district and the District of Utah meet the threshold requirements for proper venue
in this case: Secretary Jewell is located in Washington, D.C., 28 U.S.C. 1391(e)(1)(A), and a
substantial portion of the events giving rise to the claim occurred in Utah, where the park and the
cacti are also located. 28 U.S.C. 1391(e)(1)(B). The Court therefore must weigh the factors related
to the convenience of the parties and the interests of justice.
In a very similar recent case brought by WWP, a fellow court in this district considered a
motion to change venue to the District of Utah and concluded that “on balance, the private and
public interest factors weigh in favor of transfer.” W. Watersheds Project, 942 F. Supp. 2d at 97.
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This Court concludes likewise. As in that case, “deference to plaintiffs' choice of forum is
diminished because the District of Columbia has no meaningful ties to the controversy, and
‘perhaps [the] most important factor—the interest in having local controversies decided at
home’[—]tips strongly in favor of transfer.” Id. (quoting Pres. Soc. of Charleston v. U.S. Army
Corps of Eng'rs, 893 F.Supp.2d 49, 54 (D.D.C.2012) (internal citation omitted); see also M & N
Plastics, Inc. v. Sebelius, 997 F. Supp. 2d 19, 23 (D.D.C. 2013) (“deference to the plaintiff's choice
of forum . . . gives way when that choice is not their ‘home forum’ and ‘where there is an
insubstantial factual nexus between the case and the plaintiff's chosen forum’”)(citations omitted).
In fact, the D.C. Circuit has cautioned that “[c]ourts in this circuit must examine challenges to . . .
venue carefully” because plaintiffs may “nam[e] high government officials as defendants” when a
claim “properly should be pursued elsewhere.” Cameron v. Thornburgh, 983 F.2d 253, 256 (D.C.
Cir. 1993).
That appears to be the case here. While WWP and Cottonwood may genuinely believe this
discrete dispute possesses national significance, neither plaintiff is located in the District of
Columbia and, as Secretary Jewell and NPS note, Capitol Reef National Park, the local NPS offices
responsible for Capitol Reef, the administrative record, and the two species of cacti themselves are
located in Utah. Defs.’ Mot. to Change Venue at 1; Mem. in Supp. at 5. For these same reasons, in
addition to Western Watersheds Project, “over the past decade three similar cases have been
transferred by courts in this District to the District of Utah.” 942 F. Supp. 2d at 103 (citing S. Utah
Wilderness Alliance v. Lewis, 845 F. Supp. 2d 231 (D.D.C. 2012); S. Utah Wilderness Alliance v.
Norton, 315 F. Supp. 2d 82 (D.D.C. 2004); S. Utah Wilderness v. Norton, No. 01-2518, 2002 WL
32617198 (D.D.C. June 28, 2002)). The courts in all three cases “found that Utah's interest in the
case was substantial and outweighed any interest in litigating the case in the District of Columbia.”
S. Utah Wilderness Alliance v. Norton 315 F.Supp.2d at 89 (quoting S. Utah Wilderness v. Norton,
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2002 WL 32617198, at*9). WWP and Cottonwood have provided no compelling new reasons for
this Court to diverge from these prior rulings.
The sole factor that perhaps militates in favor of maintaining venue in this district is the
relative congestion of the two districts, as the District of Utah had “more pending cases per
judgeship than the District of Columbia” as of 2013. Pls.’ Opp’n. at 4. Putting aside the possibility
that the relative complexity of the two courts’ dockets may not be reflected in this purely
mathematical statistic, this one factor, on its own, does not outweigh all of the others. Accordingly,
the Court will follow the well-worn path of other courts in this district and grant Defendants’
motion.
IV.
Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, it is hereby
ORDERED that Defendants Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and the National Park
Service’s Motion to Change Venue [ECF No. 11] is GRANTED. It is further
ORDERED that the Clerk shall transfer this case to the U.S. District Court for the District
of Utah.
SO ORDERED.
CHRISTOPHER R. COOPER
United States District Judge
Date: September 23, 2014
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