Fteja v. Facebook, Inc.

• Decision Date: 24 January 2012
• Docket Number: No. 11 Civ. 918 (RJH).,11 Civ. 918 (RJH).
• Citation: 841 F.Supp.2d 829
• Parties: Mustafa FTEJA, Plaintiff, v. FACEBOOK, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

841 F.Supp.2d 829

Mustafa FTEJA, Plaintiff,

v.FACEBOOK, INC., Defendant.

No. 11 Civ. 918 (RJH).

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

Jan. 24, 2012.

Justin Nolan Kinney, Coughlin Duffy LLP, New York, NY, for Plaintiff.

RICHARD J. HOLWELL, District Judge:

Plaintiff Mustafa Fteja alleges that defendant Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”), the social networking website, disabled his Facebook account without justification and for discriminatory reasons. Non-party Dimitrios Fatouros has moved to join the action. Facebook opposes that motion and has moved to transfer this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. In the alternative, Facebook moves pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) to dismiss the action for failure to state a claim for which relief can be granted or, in the alternative, for a more definite statement pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(e). For the following reasons, Facebook's motion to transfer is granted and this case is transferred to the Northern District of California.

BACKGROUND

The following facts are taken from Fteja's complaint and from his opposition to Facebook's motion.

Fteja, a resident of Staten Island, New York, “was an active user of facebook.com.” (Compl. ¶¶ 1–3.) Fteja “ha[d] been adhering to [F]acebook['s] terms of service” and “help[ing] build the [F]acebook community by adding content and signing up new members....” ( Id. ¶ 8, 10.) But on September 24, 2010, Facebook allegedly disabled Fteja's account on September 24, 2010 “without warning” and “without reason.” ( Id. ¶ 4.)

As might be expected, given that “Facebook has become a very important means of communication,” being denied access to the world's largest social networking site caused Fteja “harm in all his personal relationships and the ability to communicate....” ( Id. ¶ 13.) Specifically, Fteja claims that the disabling of his account “hurt [his] feelings, emotionally distressed [him]” and “assaulted [his] good reputation among [his] friends and family....” (Pl.'s Opp'n ¶ 3.)

Fteja “has numerous times tried all channels to resolve this matter by procedures outlined on” the Facebook “website.” (Compl. ¶ 5.) However, Fteja alleges that these attempts “have been ignored” and that Facebook still “has not given any reason for the account being disabled.” ( Id. ¶¶ 6, 7.) Fteja therefore surmises that Facebook “discriminated” against him “based on [his] religion and ethnicity,” specifically that he is a Muslim and his name is Mustafa. ( Id. ¶ 14; Pl.'s Opp'n ¶ 3.)

On January 25, 2011, Fteja filed this action in New York Supreme Court in New York County. On February 9, 2011, Facebook removed the action to this Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1441(a) on the basis of diversity of citizenship: Fteja is a citizen of New York and Facebook is a Delaware corporation with its principle place of business in Palo Alto, California.

On April 4, 2011, Facebook moved [4] to transfer this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. In the alternative, Facebook moved pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) to dismiss the action for failure to state a claim for which relief can be granted or, in the alternative, for a more definite statement pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(e).

On April 18, 2011, Fatouros, whom Fteja “did not know,” moved [12] pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 20(a) to be joined as a plaintiff. Fatouros claims that Facebook disabled his account around the same time as it disabled Fteja's because Fatouros had posted on his “wall” an editorial he had written for a Cypriot newspaper regarding politics in Northern Cyprus.¹ (Fatouros Compl. ¶ 4.) Fteja consents to joining Fatouros but Facebook opposes the motion.

LEGAL STANDARD

“[F]ederal law, specifically 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), governs the District Court's decision whether to give effect to the parties' forum-selection clause and transfer this case....” Stewart Org., Inc. v. Ricoh Corp., 487 U.S. 22, 32, 108 S.Ct. 2239, 101 L.Ed.2d 22 (1988). “A plaintiff's choice of forum ‘is entitled to significant consideration and will not be disturbed unless other factors weigh strongly in favor of transfer.’ ” Hershman v. UnumProvident Corp., 658 F.Supp.2d 598, 601 (S.D.N.Y.2009) (quoting Royal & Sunalliance v. British Airways, 167 F.Supp.2d 573, 576 (S.D.N.Y.2001)). “The burden is on the moving party, here defendant[ ], to make a clear and convincing showing that transfer is proper.” Hershman, 658 F.Supp.2d at 600.

“The threshold question in deciding transfer of venue ... is whether the action could have been brought in the transferee forum.” Atl. Recording Corp. v. Project Playlist, Inc., 603 F.Supp.2d 690, 695 (S.D.N.Y.2009). If the answer is yes, under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) “[a] district court may exercise its discretion to transfer venue ‘for the convenience of parties and witnesses, in the interest of justice.’ ” N.Y. Marine and Gen. Ins. Co. v. Lafarge N. Am., Inc., 599 F.3d 102, 112 (2d Cir.2010) (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a)). “A motion to transfer under § 1404(a) thus calls on the district court to weigh in the balance a number of case-specific factors.” Stewart Org., Inc., 487 U.S. at 29, 108 S.Ct. 2239.

“Among the factors to be considered in determining whether to grant a motion to transfer venue are, inter alia: (1) the plaintiff's choice of forum, (2) the convenience of witnesses, (3) the location of relevant documents and relative ease of access to sources of proof, (4) the convenience of parties, (5) the locus of operative facts, (6) the availability of process to compel the attendance of unwilling witnesses, and (7) the relative means of the parties.” N.Y. Marine and Gen. Ins. Co., 599 F.3d at 112. The convenience of the forum for witnesses “is probably considered the single most important factor in the analysis of whether a transfer should be granted.” Hershman, 658 F.Supp.2d at 602 (quoting Schnabel v. Ramsey Quantitative Sys., Inc., 322 F.Supp.2d 505, 516 (S.D.N.Y.2004)). In addition, because a court's discretion to transfer an action “must be exercised at the very outset of the case, when relatively little is known about how the case will develop, courts have typically accorded substantial weight to the ... plaintiff's choice of forum.” Atl. Recording Corp., 603 F.Supp.2d at 695.

“The presence of a forum-selection clause ... will [also] be a significant factor that figures centrally in the district court's calculus.” Stewart Org., Inc., 487 U.S. at 29, 108 S.Ct. 2239. And “[t]he general rule is that forum selection clauses are regularly enforced.” Elite Parfums, Ltd. v. Rivera, 872 F.Supp. 1269, 1271 (S.D.N.Y.1995). Indeed, “contractual forum-selection clauses will be enforced unless it can clearly be shown that enforcement would be unreasonable and unjust, or that the clause was invalid for such reasons as fraud or overreaching.” Bense v. Interstate Battery Sys. of Am., Inc., 683 F.2d 718, 721–22 (2d Cir.1982).

In this Circuit, whether to enforce “a forum selection clause involves a four-part analysis.” Phillips v. Audio Active Ltd., 494 F.3d 378, 383 (2d Cir.2007). “The first inquiry is whether the clause was reasonably communicated to the party resisting enforcement.” Id. “The second step requires [the court] to classify the clause as mandatory or permissive, i.e., to decide whether the parties are required to bring any dispute to the designated forum or simply permitted to do so.” Id. “Part three asks whether the claims and parties involved in the suit are subject to the forum selection clause.” Id. “If the forum clause was communicated to the resisting party, has mandatory force and covers the claims and parties involved in the dispute, it is presumptively enforceable.” Id.

“[O]nce a mandatory choice of forum clause is deemed valid, the burden shifts to the plaintiff to demonstrate exceptional facts explaining why he should be relieved from his contractual duty.” Weiss v. Columbia Pictures Television, Inc., 801 F.Supp. 1276, 1278 (S.D.N.Y.1992). Hence “[t]he fourth, and final, step is to ascertain whether the resisting party has rebutted the presumption of enforceability by making a sufficiently strong showing that ‘enforcement would be unreasonable or unjust, or that the clause was invalid for such reasons as fraud or overreaching.’ ” Phillips, 494 F.3d at 383 (quoting M/S Bremen v. Zapata Off–Shore Co., 407 U.S. 1, 15, 92 S.Ct. 1907, 32 L.Ed.2d 513 (1972)). That is a question of federal law. See Phillips, 494 F.3d at 384 (“Despite the presumptive validity of choice of law clauses, our precedent indicates that federal law should be used to determine whether an otherwise mandatory and applicable forum clause is enforceable under ... step four in our analysis.”).

DISCUSSION

The Court first considers “whether the action could have been brought in the transferee forum,” here the Northern District of California. Atl. Recording Corp., 603 F.Supp.2d at 695. That requires the Court to determine whether the Northern District of California would be a proper venue for this action and whether it would have jurisdiction over this action and over Facebook. See Unlimited Care, Inc. v. Visiting Nurse Ass'n of E. Mass., Inc., 42 F.Supp.2d 327, 333 (S.D.N.Y.1999) (“A court electing to transfer an action, may only transfer such action ‘to a district where it might have been brought initially,’ (i.e., a district where defendant is subject to personal jurisdiction and venue would be proper).” (quoting Volkswagen De Mexico, S.A. v. Germanischer Lloyd, 768 F.Supp. 1023, 1028 (S.D.N.Y.1991)).

The Northern District of California would be a proper venue for this action. Venue is proper, inter alia, in “a judicial district in which a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred....” 28 U.S.C. § 1391(a)(2). The Northern District of...