Peckio v. Shay
Peckio v. Shay
Opinion of the Court
OPINION AND ORDER
In this action, Deborah and Richard Peckio sued Dr. Melvin D. Shay in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that Dr. Shay committed malpractice by failing to detect a tumor that turned out to be malignant. Mr. and Mrs. Peckio live in Manalapan, New Jersey. Dr. Shay lives in Brooklyn, New York. Complaint ¶1¶ 1, 2. Because the parties are citizens of different states, therefore, jurisdiction here is proper. U.S. Const, art. Ill, § 2, cl. 1; 28 U.S.C. § 1332 (1982).
[a] civil action wherein jurisdiction is founded only on diversity of citizenship may ... be brought only in the judicial district where all plaintiffs or all defendants reside, or in which the claim arose.
The plaintiffs’ complaint recites that “[defendant, Dr. Melvin D. Shay, practices medicine in Brooklyn, New York. This involves a claim arising out of his Brooklyn medical practice. By reason therefore, venue is properly placed in the Southern District of New York.” Complaint ¶ 4. The non sequitur is apparent. 28 U.S.C. § 112 divides New York State into four judicial districts. Section 112(b) lists the counties included in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Kings County — Brooklyn—is not among them.
In opposing the defendant’s instant motion to dismiss for improper venue, the plaintiffs’ lawyers persist in arguing that venue does lie in the Southern District. In their own words, “[t]he Southern District of New York is a proper forum for the maintenance of the within litigation. At this stage of the lawsuit ... a conference has already been held in the Southern District before Judge Patterson____” Affidavit of Dennis J. Drasco 1111 (Feb. 27, 1989). The plaintiffs’ lawyers offer no support for the novel proposition that defective venue is somehow cured when the plaintiffs appear for a pretrial conference that the defendant did not attend.
The defendant has properly moved for dismissal or transfer of the action to the Eastern District. The governing statutory provision provides that
[t]he district court of a district in which is filed a case laying venue in the wrong division or district shall dismiss, or if it be in the interest of justice, transfer such case to any district or division in which it could have been brought.
28 U.S.C. § 1406(a) (emphasis added). The statute explicitly contemplates dismissal unless otherwise warranted. As the above analysis makes clear, the arguments set forth by the plaintiffs’ lawyers reflect either an utter unfamiliarity with the United States Code or a reluctance to be candid with the Court. Cf. Model Code of Professional Responsibility DR 6-101(A)(2). Furthermore, according to the affidavit of defendant’s counsel, the plaintiffs’ lawyers
SO ORDERED.
. The plaintiffs’ complaint recites that Dr. Shay "practices medicine” in Brooklyn. The Constitution, of course, conditions jurisdiction on diversity of citizenship, and not on diversity of professional activities, and at least as far as individual persons are concerned, the locus of
. “The Southern District [of New York] comprises the counties of Bronx, Dutchess, New York, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, and Westchester and concurrently with the Eastern District, the waters within the Eastern District.” 28 U.S.C. § 112(b) (1982); cf. id. § 112(c) ("The Eastern District [of New York] comprises the counties of Kings, Nassau, Queens, Richmond, and Suffolk and concurrently with the Southern District, the waters within the counties of Bronx and New York.").
. Cf. Neirbo Co. v. Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., 308 U.S. 165, 60 S.Ct. 153, 84 L.Ed. 167 (1939).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Deborah PECKIO and Richard Peckio v. Dr. Melvin D. SHAY
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published