Facts
- Illinois residents filed patent infringement actions in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas against Howell and a Texas corporation based in Dallas.
- Defendants moved under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) to transfer the cases to the Northern District of Illinois for convenience and in the interest of justice.
- Plaintiffs opposed transfer, asserting the corporate defendant did not reside in Illinois, was not amenable to process there, and venue and personal jurisdiction would have been lacking in Illinois when suit was filed.
- The Texas district court granted the transfer motions and sent the cases to the Northern District of Illinois.
- In Illinois, plaintiffs moved to return the cases to Texas; the transferee district judge denied retransfer.
- Plaintiffs sought mandamus in the Seventh Circuit to compel the Illinois judges to vacate acceptance of the transfer and return the cases to Texas.
- The Seventh Circuit granted mandamus, concluding § 1404(a) permits transfer only to a district where the plaintiff had the right to bring the action initially.
- The transferee district judges sought Supreme Court review.
Issues
- Whether 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) permits transfer to a district where the plaintiff could not have brought the action at filing, based solely on defendants’ willingness to consent to venue and personal jurisdiction.
- Whether mandamus is an appropriate remedy to correct a transfer accepted by a transferee court that exceeds § 1404(a)’s limits.
Decision
- The Supreme Court affirmed the Seventh Circuit.
- A district court is not empowered by § 1404(a) to transfer an action to a district in which the plaintiff did not have the right to bring the case when it was commenced.
- The statutory phrase “where it might have been brought” does not mean a district where the action could be brought only after transfer because defendants consent to venue or jurisdiction.
- Mandamus was properly used to require the transferee judges to return the cases to the transferor court.
Legal Principles
- Under § 1404(a), a case may be transferred only to a district where, at the time of filing, the plaintiff could have brought the action (including proper venue and defendant amenability to process).
- A defendant’s waiver or consent cannot expand the set of districts to which transfer is authorized under § 1404(a).
- A transfer that disregards § 1404(a)’s “might have been brought” limitation is beyond the statutory transfer power and may be corrected by mandamus.
Conclusion
The Court construed § 1404(a) to permit transfer only to districts that were proper forums for the plaintiff at the outset, rejecting transfer based on defendants’ post-filing consent and approving mandamus to enforce the statute’s limitation.