Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-4_15-cv-05530/USCOURTS-cand-4_15-cv-05530-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 540
Nature of Suit: Prisoner Petitions - Mandamus and Other
Cause of Action: 42:1983 Civil Rights Act

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United States District Court

Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JERMEL BRAY,

Petitioner,

v.

CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT, et al.,

Respondents.

Case No. 15-cv-05530-DMR (PR)

ORDER OF TRANSFER

Petitioner Jermel Bray is a state prisoner who is incarcerated at California State PrisonSolano (“CSP-Solano”). On December 3, 2015, he filed a pro se action entitled, “Petition for 

Peremptory Writ of Mandate.” Dkt. 1. He has also filed a motion for in forma pauperis status. 

Dkt. 4. Also on December 3, 2015, the Clerk of the Court notified Petitioner in writing that this 

matter has been assigned to the undersigned Magistrate Judge.1

The petition is difficult to decipher, but Petitioner seems to be challenging rulings made by 

the state courts, stating: “Petitioner realleges that whatever the state courts could have lawfully 

done to resolve the issues presented in the state court proceedings, it failed to do so.” Dkt. 1 at 5.2 

He names as Respondents the California Supreme Court, the First District Court of Appeal, and 

the Solano County Superior Court. He seeks injunctive relief. Attached to the petition is the 

Solano County Superior Court’s May 15, 2015 denial of Petitioner’s state habeas petition, which 

indicates that Petitioner was convicted in 1994 of second degree murder in Solano County. Id. at 

12.

The court’s review of Petitioner’s case reveals that he has initiated his civil action in the 

wrong judicial district. Petitioner is incarcerated in CSP-Solano, which is located within the 

venue of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. His underlying 

conviction occurred in Solano County which also lies in the Eastern District. 

 

1

To date, Petitioner has not yet filed either his consent or declination to magistrate judge 

jurisdiction in this matter.

2

Page number citations refer to those assigned by the Court’s electronic case management filing 

system and not those assigned by Petitioner.

Case 4:15-cv-05530-DMR Document 5 Filed 12/21/15 Page 1 of 3
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United States District Court

Northern District of California

Venue is proper in a habeas action in either the district of confinement or the district of 

conviction, 28 U.S.C. § 2241(d); this district is neither.3 Accordingly, in the interest of justice, 

this action is TRANSFERRED to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of 

California.4 See 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a); Habeas L.R. 2254-3(b). The Clerk shall transfer the case 

forthwith.

All remaining motions are TERMINATED on this court’s docket as no longer pending in 

this district. 

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: December 21, 2015

______________________________________

DONNA M. RYU

United States Magistrate Judge

 

3

This case should be transferred to the Eastern District even if it were to be construed as a civil 

rights action.

4 Venue transfer is a non-dispositive matter and, thus, it falls within the scope of the jurisdiction of 

the undersigned Magistrate Judge pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A).

Case 4:15-cv-05530-DMR Document 5 Filed 12/21/15 Page 2 of 3
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United States District Court

Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JERMEL BRAY,

Plaintiff,

v.

CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT, et al.,

Defendants.

Case No. 4:15-cv-05530-DMR 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I, the undersigned, hereby certify that I am an employee in the Office of the Clerk, U.S. 

District Court, Northern District of California.

That on December 21, 2015, I SERVED a true and correct copy(ies) of the attached, by 

placing said copy(ies) in a postage paid envelope addressed to the person(s) hereinafter listed, by 

depositing said envelope in the U.S. Mail, or by placing said copy(ies) into an inter-office delivery 

receptacle located in the Clerk's office.

Jermel Bray

J-54987

CSP- Solano

PO Box 4000

Vacaville, CA 95496 

Dated: December 21, 2015

Susan Y. Soong

Clerk, United States District Court

By:________________________

Ivy Lerma Garcia, Deputy Clerk to the 

Honorable DONNA M. RYU

Case 4:15-cv-05530-DMR Document 5 Filed 12/21/15 Page 3 of 3