Source: http://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/Van_Dusen_v_Barrack_376_US_612_84_S_Ct_805_11_L_Ed_2d_945_1964_Co?1448850969
Timestamp: 2015-11-30 02:36:11
Document Index: 225718424

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1404', '§ 1404', '§ 1404', '§ 1404', '§ 1404', '§ 1404', '§ 1406', '§ 1406', '§ 1404', '§ 1404', '§ 1404', '§ 1404', '§ 1404', '§ 1404', '§ 1404', '§ 1404', '§ 1404', '§ 1404', '§ 1404']

Secondly, it should be asked whether the purposes of § 1404 (a) warrant a broad or generous construction of the limiting clause. The answer, we think, is quite evident. As MR. JUSTICE BLACK said, speaking for the Court in Continental Grain Co. v. Barge FBL-585, 364 U. S., at 26: "The idea behind § 1404 (a) is that where a 'civil action' to vindicate a wrong--however brought in a court--presents issues and requires witnesses that make one District Court more convenient than another, the trial judge can, after findings, transfer the whole action to the more convenient court." This remedial purpose--the individualized, case-by-case consideration of convenience and fairness--militates against restricting the number of permissible forums within the federal system.14[*623] There is no valid reason for reading the words "where it might have been brought" to narrow the range of permissible federal forums beyond those permitted by federal venue statutes which, after all, are generalized attempts to promote the same goals of convenience and fairness.
Finally, in construing § 1404 (a) we should consider whether a suggested interpretation would discriminatorily enable parties opposed to transfer, by means of their own acts or omissions, to prevent a transfer otherwise proper and warranted by [***954] convenience and justice. In Continental Grain Co. v. Barge FBL-585, supra, the plaintiff, having joined in a single complaint both in rem and in personam damage claims, opposed [**813] transfer to a convenient forum on the ground that the in rem claim could not have been brought in the transferee forum.15 In approving the transfer order, this Court observed that failure to adopt a "common-sense approach . . . would practically scuttle the forum non conveniens statute so far as admiralty actions are concerned. All a plaintiff would need to do to escape from it entirely would be to bring his action against both the owner and the ship, as was done here." Id., at 24-25. The case at bar presents a similar situation. The Court of Appeals' decision would grant personal representatives bringing wrongful-death actions the power unilaterally to reduce the number of permissible federal forums simply by refraining from qualifying as representatives in States other than the one in which they wished to litigate. The extent of that power is graphically illustrated by the laws of the American jurisdictions, the vast majority of which require that, as a condition of qualifying to bring suit, a foreign executor or representative must obtain ancillary appointment [*624] or perform some preliminary act.16 The possibilities thus suggested by the facts of the present case amply demonstrate that the limiting phrase of § 1404 (a) should be construed to prevent parties who are opposed to a change of venue from defeating a transfer which, but for their own deliberate acts or omissions, would be proper, convenient and just. The power to defeat a transfer to the convenient federal forum should derive from rights and privileges conferred by federal law and not from the deliberate conduct of a party favoring trial in an inconvenient forum.
Of course these cases allow plaintiffs to retain whatever advantages may flow from the state laws of the forum they have initially selected. There is nothing, however, in the language or policy of § 1404 (a) to justify [*634] its use by defendants to defeat the advantages accruing to plaintiffs who have chosen a forum which, although it was inconvenient, was a proper venue. In this regard the transfer provisions of § 1404 (a) may be compared with those of § 1406 (a).28 Although both sections [***960] were broadly designed to allow transfer instead of dismissal, § 1406 (a) provides for transfer from forums in which venue is wrongly or improperly laid, whereas, in contrast, § 1404 (a) operates on the premise that the plaintiff has properly exercised his venue privilege.29 This distinction underlines the fact that Congress, in passing § 1404 (a), was primarily concerned with the problems arising where, despite the propriety of the plaintiff's venue selection, the chosen forum was an inconvenient one.30[*635] In considering the Judicial Code, Congress was particularly aware of the need for provisions to mitigate abuses stemming from broad federal venue provisions. The venue provision of the Federal Employers' Liability Act was the [**819] subject of special concern.31 However, while the Judicial Code was pending, Congress considered and rejected the Jennings bill which, as the Court stated in Ex parte Collett, 337 U. S. 55, 64, "was far more drastic than § 1404 (a)," and which "would in large part have repealed [the venue section] of the Liability Act" by severely delimiting the permissible forums.32 This legislative background supports the view that § 1404 (a) was not designed to narrow the plaintiff's venue privilege or to defeat the state-law advantages that might accrue from the exercise of this venue privilege but rather the provision was simply to counteract the inconveniences that flowed from the venue statutes by permitting [***961] transfer to a convenient federal court. The legislative [*636] history of § 1404 (a) certainly does not justify the rather startling conclusion that one might "get a change of law as a bonus for a change of venue."33 Indeed, an interpretation accepting such a rule would go far to frustrate the remedial purposes of § 1404 (a). If a change of law were in the offing, the parties might well regard the section primarily as a forum-shopping instrument.34 And, more importantly, courts would at least be reluctant to grant transfers, despite considerations of convenience, if to do so might conceivably prejudice the claim of a plaintiff who had initially selected a permissible forum.35 We believe, therefore, that both the history and purposes of § 1404 (a) indicate that it should be regarded as a federal judicial housekeeping measure, dealing with the placement of litigation in the federal courts and generally [*637] intended, on the basis of convenience and fairness, simply to authorize a change of courtrooms.36
Although we deal here with a congressional statute apportioning the business of the federal courts, our interpretation [**820] of that statute fully accords with and is supported by the policy underlying Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U. S. 64. This Court has often formulated the Erie doctrine by stating that it establishes "the principle of uniformity within a state," Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Elec. Mfg. Co., Inc., 313 U. S. 487, 496, and declaring that federal courts in [***962] diversity of citizenship cases are to apply the laws "of the states in which they sit," Griffin v. McCoach, 313 U. S. 498, 503.37 A superficial reading of these formulations might suggest that a transferee federal court should apply the law of the State in which it [*638] sits rather than the law of the transferor State. Such a reading, however, directly contradicts the fundamental Erie doctrine which the quoted formulations were designed to express. As this Court said in Guaranty Trust Co. v. York, 326 U. S. 99, 109:
Applying this analysis to § 1404 (a), we should ensure that the "accident" of federal diversity jurisdiction does not enable a party to utilize a transfer to achieve a result in federal court which could not have been achieved in the courts of the State where the action was filed. This purpose would be defeated in cases such as the present if nonresident defendants, properly subjected to suit in the transferor State (Pennsylvania), could invoke § 1404 (a) to gain the benefits of the laws of another jurisdiction (Massachusetts). What Erie and the cases following it have sought was an identity or uniformity between federal and state courts;38 and the fact that in most instances this could be achieved by directing federal courts to apply the laws of the States "in which they [*639] sit" should not obscure that, in applying the same reasoning to § 1404 (a), the critical identity to be maintained is between the federal district court which decides the case and the courts of the State in which the action was filed.39[**821] We conclude, therefore, that in cases such as the present, where the defendants seek transfer, the transferee district court must be obligated to apply the state law that would have been applied if there had been no change of venue. A change of venue under § 1404 (a) generally [***963] should be, with respect to state law, but a change of courtrooms.40
In pointing to these considerations, we are fully aware that the District Court concluded that the relevant Pennsylvania law was unsettled, that its determination involved difficult questions, and that in the near future Pennsylvania courts might provide guidance.49 We think that this uncertainty, however, should itself have been considered as a factor bearing on the desirability of transfer. Section 1404 (a) provides for transfer to a more [*646] convenient forum, not to a forum likely to prove equally convenient or inconvenient. We do not suggest that elements of uncertainty in transferor state law would alone justify a denial of transfer; but we do think that the uncertainty is one factor, among others, to be considered in assessing the desirability of transfer.
fn37 See also, e. g., Guaranty Trust Co. v. York, 326 U. S. 99, 108 ("a federal court adjudicating a State-created right solely because of the diversity of citizenship of the parties is for that purpose, in effect, only another court of the State . . .").
Case Analysis (2981)