The district court in New Jersey recently reminded TCPA litigants that there can be much more to jurisdiction and venue than meets the eye. Even a court with proper jurisdiction can exercise its discretion and send a case to a more convenient forum.
The court did just that in Geraci v. Red Robin Int’l, Civil No. 1:18-cv-15542-RMB, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 104989 (D. N.J. June 21, 2019), transferring the plaintiff’s TCPA case from the plaintiff’s home state of New Jersey to the state of the defendant’s headquarters in Colorado. The plaintiff, a New Jersey resident, alleged that the defendant Red Robin, a Nevada corporation headquartered in Colorado, violated the TCPA by sending unauthorized texts to the plaintiff’s cell phone through the Red Robin customer loyalty program.
Despite Red Robin having 13 locations in New Jersey (out of over 400 nationwide), the technology used to send the texts at issue and Red Robin’s information systems were both located in Colorado. So when the plaintiff filed a putative TCPA class action in New Jersey district court, Red Robin moved to transfer the case to Colorado district court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a).
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