Venue transfer request granted

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Where individual and corporate defendants all resided in Fairfax County, the plaintiff resided in Florida and the dispute between owners of the technology company had no connection to the Norfolk division, the suit is transferred to Alexandria.

Background

This matter comes before the court on defendants’ motion to dismiss or to transfer venue.

Sharad Tak created Technology Ventures LLC, with Jitendra Vyas and Sundeep Damani. Plaintiff alleges that the individual defendants have not provided him with advanced notice of meetings and have not provided him with written notice of decisions. Furthermore, plaintiff alleges that individual defendants have unilaterally decided to charge consulting fees to Stream LLC and Foxhall Ventures LLC, which are controlled by the individual defendants, as a way to supplement their salaries and avoid making distributions.

Plaintiff currently resides in Florida. Defendants Vyas and Damani are residents of Fairfax. Stream and Foxhall are both headquartered in Fairfax County, and neither has offices or employees in the counties that make up the Norfolk Division of the Eastern District of Virginia.

Analysis

Both individual defendants live in Fairfax County and work for a company located in Fairfax County. Plaintiff has not alleged any facts that would affect the individual defendants’ place of residence or domicile. As such, for venue purposes, the individual defendants reside in Fairfax County which is within the Alexandria division. Further, defendants have alleged and plaintiff has not disputed that Stream and Foxhall is headquartered in and has its principal place of business in Fairfax County. As such, for venue purposes, they reside in Fairfax County which is within the Alexandria division.

The court finds that the Norfolk division is not the proper venue and that the Alexandria division is the proper venue for this action. The individual and corporate defendants are residents of the Alexandria division. Plaintiff has not alleged the occurrence of any events or omission in the Norfolk division that would have given rise to this action. All relevant events that occurred in Virginia occurred in the Alexandria division. Therefore, the case should be transferred to the Alexandria Division.

Defendants’ motion to transfer venue granted.

Tak v. Vyas, Case No. 2:21-cv-93, Oct. 5, 2021. EDVA at Norfolk (Young). VLW 021-3-482. 6 pp.