28 U.S.C. § 1392
Section 1392 · Defendants or property in different districts in same State
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 111 court decisions — leading case Fourco Glass Company v. Transmirra Products Corporation (1957)
Most recently applied in 957 F. Supp. 2d 511 - Al-Ghena International Corp. v. Radwan (July 2013)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 28 U.S.C. § 1391 · 28 U.S.C. § 1404 · 28 U.S.C. § 1406
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Any civil action, of a local nature, involving property located in different districts in the same State, may be brought in any of such districts.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §§113, 116 (Mar. 3, 1911, ch. 231, §§52, 55, 36 Stat. 1101, 1102).
Section consolidates section 113 of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., with section 116 of such title.
Last sentence of section 113 of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., relating to execution on judgments or decrees, was omitted as covered by section 2001 et seq. of this title.
Words “civil action” were substituted for “suit” in view of Rule 2 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Words of said section 113, “against a single defendant, inhabitant of such State, must be brought in the district where he resides” were omitted as covered by section 1391 of this title.
Words of section 116 of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., “land or other subject matter of a fixed character” were deleted and the word “property” substituted for flexibility and uniformity. (See sections 754, 1692, of this title and reviser's notes thereunder.)
Words of said section 116, “and the court in which it is brought shall have jurisdiction to hear and decide it, and to cause mesne or final process to be issued and executed, as fully as if the said subject matter were wholly within the district for which such court is constituted” were omitted as surplusage and fully covered by Rule 4 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Said rule also covers the following omitted language: “A duplicate writ may be issued against the defendants, directed to the marshal of any other district in which any defendant resides.”
Changes were made in phraseology.
Amendments
1996—Pub. L. 104–220 struck out “(b)” before “Any civil action” and struck out subsec. (a) which read as follows: “Any civil action, not of a local nature, against defendants residing in different districts in the same State, may be brought in any of such districts.”