Gaud et al v. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) et al

Filing 3

ORDERED: Plaintiffs' request to transfer is GRANTED. The Clerk is DIRECTED to TRANSFER this case to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida and CLOSE the Fort Myers file. Signed by Judge Sheri Polster Chappell on 1/8/2021. (AEH)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
FORT MYERS DIVISION
FERNANDO GAUD and DARREN
DIONE AQUINO, Disabled
Veteran, U.S. Army
Plaintiffs,
v.

Case No: 2:21-cv-21-FtM-38MRM

THE FEDERAL ELECTION
COMMISSON (FEC), CHERYL
L. JOHNSON, WILLIAIM
BARR, RON DESANTIS,
LAUREL M. LEE, JENNIFER
L. EDWARDS, MARIO DIAZBALART, SCOTT S. HARRIS,
THE RIVERDALE NURSING
HOME, ERIC COHEN, FNU
SARAI, FNU RUBEN,
ANDREW CUOMO and
ANDREW
SAUL,COMMISSIONER OF
SOCIAL SECURITY,
Defendants.
/
ORDER1
Before the Court is pro se Plaintiffs’ Emergency Complaint for Injunctive
and Declaratory Relief (Doc. 1). On January 6, the Plaintiffs dropped off the

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Complaint at the Clerk’s Office in Fort Myers.

Plaintiffs explained they

wanted to file this Complaint in the Northern District of Florida.

And

Plaintiffs captioned the Complaint as filed there. After a bit of back and forth
on whether the Clerk’s Office should accept the Complaint, it eventually did.
From the Court’s understanding of this situation, it liberally construes
Plaintiffs’ attempts as seeking to file the case here and transfer to the Northern
District.
“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). District courts have
“broad discretion” to order the transfer to a more convenient forum. England
v. ITT Thompson Indus., Inc., 856 F.2d 1518, 1520 (11th Cir. 1988). The
Eleventh Circuit set out several factors for courts to consider:
(1) the convenience of the witnesses; (2) the location of
relevant documents and the relative ease of access to
sources of proof; (3) the convenience of the parties; (4)
the locus of operative facts; (5) the availability of
process to compel the attendance of unwilling
witnesses; (6) the relative means of the parties; (7) a
forum’s familiarity with the governing law; (8) the
weight accorded a plaintiff’s choice of forum; and (9)
trial efficiency and the interests of justice, based on
the totality of the circumstances.
Kelling v. Hartford Life & Accident Ins., 961 F. Supp. 2d 1216, 1218 (M.D. Fla.
2013) (quoting Manuel v. Convergys Corp., 430 F.3d 1132, 1135 n.1 (11th Cir.

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2005)). The point of § 1404(a) “is to prevent the waste of time, energy and
money and to protect litigants, witnesses and the public against unnecessary
inconvenience and expense.” Van Dusen v. Barrack, 376 U.S. 612, 616 (1964)
(cleaned up).
After considering the above factors and the unique facts of how the case
started, the Court grants Plaintiffs’ request to transfer.

It would add

unnecessary time, energy, expense, and inefficiency to this suit by allowing it
to begin in the District where Plaintiffs did not intend to file the case. So the
Court transfers this case to the Northern District.
Accordingly, it is now
ORDERED:
1. Plaintiffs’ request to transfer is GRANTED.
2. The Clerk is DIRECTED to TRANSFER this case to the United
States District Court for the Northern District of Florida and CLOSE
the Fort Myers file.
DONE and ORDERED in Fort Myers, Florida on January 8, 2021.

Copies: All Parties of Record

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