Van Dusen v. Barrack
- Decided
- March 30, 1964
- Docket
- 56 and 80
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 3,077 timesSuperseded by statute (verified)Possible negative treatment: superseded by statute (1 of 4 verified; none is a verified overruling) · Hodgson v. Roper
What later courts said
- holding that a "change of venue under § 1404(a) generally should be, with respect to state law, but a change of courtrooms” — In re Volkswagen of America, Inc. (2008)
- holding that a transferee court must apply the state law that would have been applied if there had been no change of venue — Robinson v. Eli Lilly and Co. (2008)
- holding that a district court should consider whether transfer will avoid dupli-cative litigation, affect judicial economy, or prevent waste of time and money — Brock v. Baskin-Robbins USA Co. (2000)
Each line is a later court’s own words about this case, not a summary. Read the opinion before relying on it.
How the opinion begins
Mr. Justice Goldberg delivered the opinion of the Court.
This case involves the construction and application of § 1404 (a) of the Judicial Code of 1948. Section 1404 (a), which allows a “change of venue” within the federal judicial system, 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.” 28 U. S. C. § 1404 (a).
The facts, which need but brief statement here, reveal that the disputed change of venue is set against the background of an alleged mass tort. On October 4, 1960, shortly after departing from a Boston airport, a commercial airliner, scheduled to fly from Boston to Philadelphia, plunged into Boston Harbor. As a result of the crash, over 150 actions for personal injury and wrongful death [*614] have been instituted against the airline, various manufacturers, the United States, and, in some cases, the Massachusetts Port Authority. In most of these actions the plaintiffs have alleged that the crash resulted from the defendants’ negligence in permitting the aircraft’s engines to ingest some birds. More than 100 actions were brought in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and more than 45 actions in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Statutes cited
Cite this
Van Dusen v. Barrack, 376 U.S. 612 (1964)Read the full opinion
Reading the library on this site uses your account’s daily calls, the same as the connector and the API. The Free plan needs no card. Calls a day on each plan.