Wells v. Valenty et al

Filing 17

ORDER granting 14 Motion to Transfer Case to Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Washington, signed by Judge Ronald B. Leighton.(DN)

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1 The Honorable Ronald B. Leighton 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT TACOMA 8 9 10 BRIAN WELLS, an individual, 11 No. 3:11-cv-5880 RBL Plaintiff, 12 13 14 15 16 17 ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR REFERENCE OF ACTION TO BANKRUPTCY COURT v. BENJAMIN VALENTY, an individual; [Dkt. #14] IMAGINART PUBLISHING, a California General Partnership; IMAGINART, L.L.C., a Nevada Limited Liability Company; Defendants. 18 19 This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff’s Motion for Reference of Action to 20 Bankruptcy Court [Dkt. #14]. In October 2011, Plaintiff filed a complaint in this Court against 21 Defendants, asserting various claims, including fraud, breach of contract, conversion, rescission, 22 23 and consumer fraud. In November 2011, both Defendants separately filed a voluntary petition 24 for relief in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California. Plaintiff 25 argues that this action should be referred to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western 26 District of Washington for consideration of Plaintiff’s motion to transfer. 27 28 Order - 1 1 If there is some reason why it would make sense for a bankruptcy court to take over a 2 lawsuit from district court, the proper procedure is for the party seeking the transfer to move the 3 district court to refer the action to the bankruptcy court in the same district for further handling. 4 In re Mitchell, 206 B.R. 204, 210 (Bankr. C.D. Cal. 1997). Because both Defendants have filed 5 bankruptcy petitions in Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, Plaintiff is 6 7 subject to potentially duplicative time and expenses associated with litigating claims in two 8 different forums and two different jurisdictions. Therefore, this Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s 9 motion to refer this matter to the Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Washington, and 10 the bankruptcy court can consider Plaintiff’s motion to transfer to the Bankruptcy Court for the 11 Central District of California. 12 13 The Plaintiff’s Motion [Dkt. #14] is GRANTED. 14 IT IS SO ORDERED. 15 DATED this 11th day of April, 2012. 16 17 18 19 A RONALD B. LEIGHTON UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Order - 2

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