RENÉE MARIE BUMB, District Judge.
This matter comes before the Court upon Motions to Dismiss, filed by Defendant PHH Mortgage Corporation ("PHH")[Dkt. No. 34] and Defendants Experian Information Solutions, Inc. ("Experian"), Equifax Information Services, LLC ("Equifax"), and Equifax Consumer Services LLC ("ECS")(collectively, the "CRA Defendants")[Dkt. No. 36] seeking the dismissal of Plaintiff Stephen S. Edwards' ("Plaintiff") First Amended Complaint ("Am. Compl.")[Dkt. No. 31] in its entirety pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). PHH also argues, in the alternative, for the transfer of this matter to the United States District Court for the District of Arizona pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). Plaintiff has six (6) pending motions before this court, as follows(1) a "Motion for Dispute Resolution" [Dkt. No. 33]; (2) a "Motion to Quash PHH Motion to Dismiss and for Sanctions Against Lawyers Sixkiller and Norblatt for their fraud upon this Court [for] Witholding evidence" [Dkt. No. 38]; (3) a "Motion for Immediate Injunctive Relief" [Dkt. No. 39]; (4) a "Motion to Deny Dismissing Defendants Equifax and Experian" [Dkt. No. 43];
(5) a "Motion for an Order to Show Cause against PHH Mortgage" [Dkt. No. 51]; and (6) a "Motion to Strike" [Dkt. No. 54] in relation to PHH's Cross-Motion for Sanctions [Dkt. No. 52].
Noting this litigation's lack of connection to this forum and Defendant PHH's argument for transfer § 1404(a), this Court issued an Order to Show Cause as to why this Court should not transfer the case to the District of Arizona, in the interest of convenience and justice [Dkt. No. 64]. Having reviewed the parties' briefing on this issue, including the responses from Plaintiff [Dkt. No. 65] and the CRA Defendants [Dkt. No. 66], the Court finds that a transfer of this action is appropriate under § 1404(a). Therefore, this Court will not render a decision on the other pending motions.
Because Plaintiff is proceeding
Plaintiff resides at 16030 S. 36th Street, Phoenix, Arizona 48048. (Am. Compl. ¶ 5). PHH is a mortgage corporation headquartered in New Jersey that conducts business throughout the nation, including "regularly" conducting business "through its entities in the Maricopa County area of Arizona."
In connection with this construction loan and mortgage, Plaintiff alleges that PHH has "lied" both to credit reporting agencies and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit about how much Plaintiff owes them.
Plaintiff filed his initial Complaint on October 3, 2017, and filed his Amended Complaint on June 22, 2018, alleging (1) breach of contract; (2) breach of fiduciary duty; (3) fraud; (4) violation of the Truth in Lending Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1601,
This is not Plaintiff's first lawsuit against PHH, Experian, or Equifax. Indeed, Plaintiff has previously filed at least
Section 1404(a) of Title 28 of the United States Code provides that: "For the convenience of parties and witnesses, in the interest of justice, a district court may transfer any civil action to any other district or division where it might have been brought." The parties do not appear to genuinely dispute that this action could have been filed in the District of Arizona, where the Lemon Street Property is located, where the underlying transaction occurred, where Plaintiff resides, where PHH operates regional locations, and where Plaintiff has filed the half-dozen prior suits related to this transaction in both federal and state courts.
"If the proposed alternative forum is appropriate," as it is here, "it is then within the Court's discretion to transfer the action."
In deciding whether to transfer an action under § 1404(a), courts in the Third Circuit consider both private and public interests, the Court addresses these factors below.
As delineated in
With regard to the private interest factors, it is clear that Plaintiff prefers New Jersey. Arguing against transfer, Plaintiff considers himself a victim of "Battered Wife Syndrome" in the Arizona courts and states that "[t]he Court should not send the victim into the line of fire of Phoenix injustice." [Dkt. No. 65, at 2]. Plaintiff explains that "[w]e all know [PHH's counsel] loves the judges in Phoenix" and that "7th Amendment Violations ignore [sic] by Phoenix should not be permitted." This Court affords no weight to Plaintiff's preference based on absurd and unsupported allegations of judicial bias in Arizona.
Generally, a plaintiff's choice of forum is "a paramount consideration" to transfer determinations,
Although Defendants' first choice would be for this Court to dismiss Plaintiff's Amended Complaint, alternatively, PHH and the CRA Defendants support transfer to the District of Arizona. The parties do not dispute that Plaintiff's claims arose in Arizona, where the Lemon Street Property is located, where the books and records are located, where Plaintiff and most witnesses reside, and where Plaintiff has previously litigated (and currently does litigate) multiple cases against the same Defendants involving the Lemon Street Property. These factors weigh in favor of transfer to Arizona.
Convenience of the parties weighs in favor of transfer. The only factor linking the case to this Court is that PHH is headquartered in New Jersey. Plaintiff concedes in his response to the Court's Order to Show Cause that "if anything, the inconvenience is to Edwards not to PHH!" [Dkt. No. 65]. However, PHH has stated that it has the resources to defend the case in either New Jersey or Arizona, but it would be more convenient for it to litigate this case in Arizona, where PHH has already obtained lawyers in the other half-dozen cases involving this same property and transaction.
There is no indication that any witnesses or evidence would be unavailable in either New Jersey or Arizona. However, Plaintiff and other witnesses reside in Arizona, the books and records are in Arizona, and the Lemon Street Property is located in Arizona. Therefore, these factors weigh in favor of transfer to Arizona.
As set forth by the Third Circuit in
The first factor — the enforceability of the judgment — weighs in favor of transfer. Because Plaintiff has already filed a half-dozen other cases against the same Defendants in Arizona, there are legitimate questions raised in Defendants' motions to dismiss that this case should be dismissed due to
Next, both the practical and administrative considerations weigh in favor of transfer to the District of Arizona. Both the District of Arizona and the District of New Jersey have federal judicial vacancies that the Judicial Conference has deemed judicial emergencies. Given the congested dockets in both districts, this Court notes that consolidating this case with Plaintiff's pending case in the District of Arizona would conserve judicial resources and be more efficient for all parties. Additionally, transfer to the district geographically closer to Plaintiff, the relevant property, and the witnesses would be more likely to make trial easy, expeditious, or inexpensive.
The Court also considers the local interest in deciding local controversies at home, finding that this Court's interest is minimal. This Court's only connection to this matter is that PHH is headquartered in New Jersey. However, PHH itself prefers to litigate this case in Arizona. Because the underlying claims arose in Arizona, this case would only be a "local" controversy in Arizona.
Although Plaintiff appears to make a public policy argument in favor of transfer, this Court finds that the public interest in promoting judicial economy strongly supports transfer. Not only is Arizona the forum with the more significant connection to the events giving rise to this litigation, but it is also the location of the past litigation between the parties. As previously noted, Plaintiff has provided no support for his nonsensical allegation that there "was a violation of the 7th Amendment in each [prior] case" litigated in Arizona. [Dkt. No. 65, at 3]. Therefore, Arizona "has a strong public interest in adjudicating the dispute."
Finally, the Court considers the familiarity of the trial judge with the applicable state law in diversity cases to be a neutral factor. Federal courts are generally well-equipped to apply the laws of other states and frequently do so in diversity cases.
For the reasons set forth herein, this Court finds that the private and public factors weigh in favor of transfer. Therefore, the Court holds it appropriate to transfer this action to the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a).