Opinion ID: 610808
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Dismissal for Improper Venue

Text: 6 Minnette first contends the district court should have transferred the action to the Southern District of New York rather than dismiss it. Appellant asserts that she filed her action in the Western District of New York after the court clerk there informed her that she could file her claim in that district, and that if venue was improper, the court would transfer her case to the proper venue. 7 The governing statute states that the 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) (1988) (emphasis added). Whether dismissal or transfer is appropriate lies within the sound discretion of the district court. See Naartex Consulting Corp. v. Watt, 722 F.2d 779, 789 (D.C.Cir.1983), cert. denied, 467 U.S. 1210, 104 S.Ct. 2399, 81 L.Ed.2d 355 (1984); 15 Charles A. Wright et al., Federal Practice and Procedure § 3827, at 261-62 (2d ed. 1986). 8 There was no statutory basis in the instant case for laying venue in the Western District of New York, see 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(3) (1988). Title VII's venue provision provides that an action may be brought: 9 in any judicial district in the State in which the unlawful employment practice is alleged to have been committed, in the judicial district in which the employment records relevant to such practice are maintained and administered, or in the judicial district in which the aggrieved person would have worked but for the alleged unlawful employment practice, but if the respondent is not found within any such district, such an action may be brought within the judicial district in which the respondent had his principal office. 10 Id. (emphasis added). Therefore, the district court had discretion under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a) either to transfer the action in accord with Title VII's venue provision or to dismiss it. 11 It properly denied appellant's request to transfer the case to the Southern District of New York. Although Time Warner maintains its principal place of business in Manhattan, the judicial district where the employer's principal office is located is a proper place for venue only if venue cannot be laid in one of the other three possible districts specified in the statute. It is undisputed that Reston, Virginia is the judicial district within which Time Warner's alleged discriminatory practice took place. It is also the district where Minnette would have been employed but for Time Warner's alleged discriminatory action. Further, the personnel and other employment records relevant to the alleged discriminatory practice were maintained at Time Warner's Reston facility. Because there is no indication that Time Warner could not be found in the Eastern District of Virginia, venue properly belonged there. 12 We deem it appropriate, however, to exercise our statutory and inherent authority to transfer this case to the Eastern District of Virginia in the interest of justice. See Bolar v. Frank, 938 F.2d 377, 379-80 (2d Cir.1991) (per curiam). Appellant would now be time-barred from initiating a new action. A Title VII action must be brought within 90 days of receipt of an EEOC right-to-sue letter. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(1) (1988). In instances where a complaint is timely filed and later dismissed, the timely filing of the complaint does not toll or suspend the 90-day limitations period. See Berry v. CIGNA/RSI-CIGNA, 975 F.2d 1188, 1191 (5th Cir.1992); see also Brown v. Hartshorne Pub. Sch. Dist. # 1, 926 F.2d 959, 961 (10th Cir.1991) (holding that limitations period was not tolled during pendency of dismissed action). Given that the functional purpose of 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a) is to eliminate impediments to the timely disposition of cases and controversies on their merits, see Bolar v. Frank, 938 F.2d at 380, the transfer of this action, when the statute of limitations has run, is in the interest of justice.