2013 Decisions

Opinions of the United

States Court of Appeals

for the Third Circuit

3-27-2013

In Re: Wayne Hoffman

Precedential or Non-Precedential: Non-Precedential

Docket No. 13-1468

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Recommended Citation

"In Re: Wayne Hoffman " (2013). 2013 Decisions. Paper 1070.

http://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/thirdcircuit_2013/1070
DLD-152 NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

___________

No. 13-1468

___________

IN RE: WAYNE I. HOFFMAN,

 Petitioner

____________________________________

On a Petition for Writ of Mandamus from the

United States District Court for the District of New Jersey

(Related to D.N.J. Civ. No. 12-cv-07018)

____________________________________

Submitted Pursuant to Rule 21, Fed. R. App. P.

March 14, 2013

Before: AMBRO, SMITH and CHAGARES, Circuit Judges

(Opinion filed: March 27, 2013)

_________

OPINION

_________

PER CURIAM

Pro se petitioner, Wayne Hoffman, seeks a writ of mandamus directing the District 

Court to rule on the motions for leave to proceed in forma pauperis and for the appointment of 

counsel that accompanied the underlying civil rights complaint he filed on November 14, 2012, 

and to direct that service of process be issued by the United States Marshal’s Service. While 

we acknowledge that the motions indeed remain pending and that the District Court has an 

obligation to rule on them, mandamus is not warranted in this case. Accordingly, we will deny 

the petition.
2

Mandamus is a “drastic remedy” available in extraordinary circumstances only. In re: 

Diet Drugs Prods. Liab. Litig., 418 F.3d 372, 378 (3d Cir. 2005). A petitioner seeking the writ 

“must have no other adequate means to obtain the desired relief, and must show that the right 

to issuance is clear and indisputable.” Madden v. Myers, 102 F.3d 74, 79 (3d Cir. 1996), 

superseded in part on other grounds by 3d Cir. L.A.R. 24.1(c) (1997). Generally, a court’s 

management of its docket is discretionary, In re Fine Paper Antitrust Litig., 685 F.2d 810, 817 

(3d Cir. 1982), and there is no “clear and indisputable” right to have a district court handle a 

case in a certain manner. See Allied Chem. Corp. v. Daiflon, Inc., 449 U.S. 33, 36 (1980). 

However, mandamus may be warranted when a district court’s delay “is tantamount to a failure 

to exercise jurisdiction.” Madden, 102 F.3d at 79.

The delay complained of by Hoffman is not tantamount to a failure to exercise 

jurisdiction. Because less than four months have passed since Hoffman filed his complaint and 

little more than two and a half months since the filing of his amended complaint on December 

31, 2012, the delay “does not yet rise to the level of a denial of due process.” Id. (denying a 

mandamus petition where the district court had not ruled on petitioner’s motion in four 

months). We are fully confident that the District Court will adjudicate Hoffman’s motions and

complaint without undue delay.

We likewise deny Hoffman’s petition to the extent he requests a change of venue. The 

express terms of 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) provide that a federal district court may transfer civil 

actions from one federal district court to another. While the Supreme Court has found that a 

federal court of appeals may effect a transfer by direct order where “unusual circumstances”

require “extraordinary action,” see Koehring Co. v. Hyde Constr. Co., 382 U.S. 362, 364-65 
3

(1966), no such unusual circumstances appear based on Hoffman=s petition.

Accordingly, we will deny the petition for a writ of mandamus.