Judge Margo Brodie
Plaintiff Gonsalves-Carvalhal defaulted on the mortgage—from Bayrock Mortgage Corp.—for his retirement home in Georgia. Bayrock’s nominee and successor Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) retained Atlanta’s McCurdy & Candler (McC&C) to collect plaintiff’s mortgage debt. MERS later assigned its security interest in plaintiff’s home to Aurora Bank’s subsidiary Aurora Loan Services. McC&C sent plaintiff collection letters stating it represented Aurora Bank. Plaintiff’s lawsuit alleged violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Truth in Lending Act, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the Fair Credit Billing Act, and Georgia state law. District court transferred suit to Georgia’s Northern District. In addition to granting McC&C’s motion to transfer venue to the Northern District of Georgia under 28 USC §§1404 and 1406, the court found transfer of plaintiff’s claims against the Aurora Defendants to be in the interests of justice. Venue in the Eastern District was improper under 28 USC §1391(b). The court observed that the conduct of the Aurora Defendants was central to issues raised against McC&C, and that the claims against the Aurora Defendants were properly transferred under 28 USC §1404(a).
