Olivera v. Cate et al

Filing 12

ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Carolyn K. Delaney on 2/20/2014 ORDERING that this action is TRANSFERRED to the USDC for the Western District of Oklahoma. CASE CLOSED. (Yin, K) [Transferred from California Eastern on 2/21/2014.]

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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ANGEL OLIVERA,

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No. 2:13-cv-2376 CKD P

Plaintiff,
v.

ORDER

MATTHEW CATE, et al.,
Defendants.

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Plaintiff , a state prisoner proceeding pro se, has filed a civil rights action pursuant to 42

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U.S.C. § 1983. Since May 2012, plaintiff has been housed at the North Fork Correctional Facility

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(NFCF) in Sayre, Oklahoma. (ECF No. 1 at 13.) His complaint alleges that, after arriving at

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NFCF, he was placed on lockdown and denied all normal programs for five months, while

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inmates of other races (plaintiff is Southern Hispanic) were not subject to the lockdown. (Id. at

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14-15.) Plaintiff names as defendants four high-level CDCR officials, including Secretary

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Matthew Cate, and seven officials at NFCF.

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The federal venue statute provides that a civil action “may be brought in (1) a judicial

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district in which any defendant resides, if all defendants are residents of the State in which the

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district is located, (2) a judicial district in which a substantial part of the events or omissions

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giving rise to the claim occurred, or a substantial part of property that is the subject of the action

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is situated, or (3) if there is no district in which an action may otherwise be brought as provided in
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this action, any judicial district in which any defendant is subject to the court’s personal

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jurisdiction with respect to such action.” 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b).

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Venue of this action is technically appropriate in the Eastern District of California because

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the Director of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (hereafter “CDCR

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Director”) resides in this district. Nevertheless, the court is transferring this action to Western

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District of Oklahoma pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) in the interests of justice for the following

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reasons.

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It is clear that plaintiff is suing the CDCR officials solely in a respondeat superior

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capacity. Additionally, plaintiff is seeking monetary damages only and has not stated a claim for

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injunctive relief. As such, the CDCR defendants are subject to be dismissed from this 42 U.S.C.

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§ 1983 action. See Fayle v. Stapley, 607 F.2d 858, 862 (9th Cir. 1979). Venue would then be

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improper in this district because no defendant would be found here. Venue would also be

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improper because the claims for which plaintiff seeks relief took place in the Western District of

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Oklahoma. Thus, it is appropriate that those claims be litigated in that district.

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IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that this action is transferred to the Western District of

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Oklahoma.

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Dated: February 20, 2014

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2/oliv2376.21c

_____________________________________
CAROLYN K. DELANEY
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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