28 U.S.C. § 1406 Cure Or Waiver of Defects

• Library: United States Statutes
• Edition: 2023 Edition
• Currency: Current through P.L. 118-19 (published on www.congress.gov on 10/06/2023)

(a) 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.

(b) Nothing in this chapter shall impair the jurisdiction of a district court of any matter involving a party who does not interpose timely and sufficient objection to the venue.

(c) As used in this section, the term "district court" includes the District Court of Guam, the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, and the District Court of the Virgin Islands, and the term "district" includes the territorial jurisdiction of each such court.

Cite as 28 U.S.C. § 1406

Source: June 25, 1948, ch. 646, 62 Stat. 937; May 24, 1949, ch. 139, §81, 63 Stat. 101; Pub. L. 86-770, §1, Sept. 13, 1960, 74 Stat. 912; Pub. L. 87-845, §10, Oct. 18, 1962, 76A Stat. 699; Pub. L. 97-164, title I, §132, Apr. 2, 1982, 96 Stat. 39; Pub. L. 104-317, title VI, §610(b), Oct. 19, 1996, 110 Stat. 3860.

Notes from the Office of Law Revision Counsel

current through 5/22/2023

HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES

1948 ACT

Subsection (a) provides statutory sanction for transfer instead of dismissal, where venue is improperly laid.

Subsection (b) is declaratory of existing law. (See Panama R.R. Co. v. Johnson, 1924, 44 S.Ct. 391, 264 U.S. 375, 68 L.Ed. 748.) It makes clear the intent of Congress that venue provisions are not jurisdictional but may be waived.

1949 ACT

This section removes an ambiguity in section 1406(a) of title 28, U.S.C., by substituting "may" for "shall", thus making it clear that the court may decline to transfer a case brought in the wrong district under circumstances where it would not be in the interest of justice to make such transfer. [The amendment to section 1406(a) of this title described in this note was altered in the bill as enacted. See Cong. Rec., vol. 95, pt. 5, pp. 5826, 5827, 6283, 6284.]

EDITORIAL NOTES