Wagafe et al v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services et al

Filing 55

MINUTE ORDER denying Government's 39 motion to transfer venue. Authorized by U.S. District Judge John C Coughenour. (PM)

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THE HONORABLE JOHN C. COUGHENOUR 1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 7 8 9 ABDIQAFAR WAGAFE, et al., 10 11 12 Plaintiffs, CASE NO. C17-0094-JCC MINUTE ORDER v. UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES, et al., 13 14 Defendants. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 The following Minute Order is made by direction of the Court, the Honorable John C. Coughenour, United States District Judge: This matter comes before the Court on the Government’s motion to transfer venue (Dkt. No. 39). On February 9, 2017, Plaintiffs filed a motion for class certification. (Dkt. No. 26.) Five days later, a United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officer called Plaintiff Wagafe’s attorney to schedule an interview on his immigration application. (Dkt. No. 40 at 8.) The interview took place on February 22, 2017, and the immigration officer approved Plaintiff Wagafe’s application that day. (Id.) Prior to this lawsuit, Plaintiff Wagafe’s immigration application had been pending for three and a half years. (Id.) Plaintiff Wagafe’s oath ceremony took place on March 2, 2017, and he became a United States citizen that day. (Id.) Also on that day, the Government filed the present motion to transfer venue to the District of North Dakota, MINUTE ORDER C17-0094-JCC PAGE - 1 1 Eastern Division, arguing that Plaintiff Wagafe’s claims were mooted, and the only remaining 2 named plaintiff resided in Grand Forks, North Dakota. (Dkt. No. 39 at 1–2.) 3 On April 4, 2017, Plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint, adding three named 4 plaintiffs from Western Washington. (Dkt. No. 47 at 35, 38, 40.) Because the Government’s 5 motion was premised on the fact that there were no plaintiffs with viable claims remaining in 6 Western Washington (Dkt. No. 39), and because Plaintiffs recently amended their complaint to 7 add three named plaintiffs who reside in Western Washington (Dkt. No. 47), the Court hereby 8 DENIES the Government’s motion to transfer venue (Dkt. No. 39). 9 10 DATED this 11th day of April 2017. 11 William M. McCool Clerk of Court 12 /s/Paula McNabb Deputy Clerk 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 MINUTE ORDER C17-0094-JCC PAGE - 2

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