N.D. Cal. Civil L.R. 3-2

(a) Civil Cover Sheet Required by Litigants Unrepresented by Counsel (“pro se”). Pro

se litigants (except pro se prisoners) must file a completed cover sheet, on a form

provided by the Clerk’s Office, with any document initiating a civil action.

(b) Commencement of Action. An action may be commenced within the meaning of Fed.

R. Civ. P. 3 at any office of the Clerk for this district. In cases that permit or require

manual filing, once an action is commenced, subsequent manual filings may be made

in any division within the district, except that manual filings in matters assigned to the

San Francisco, San Jose, or Oakland divisions may not be filed in the Eureka-McKinleyville division.

(c) Assignment to a Division. The Clerk shall assign civil actions and proceedings

pursuant to the Court’s Assignment Plan (General Order No. 44). For those case

categories which are not district-wide, the Clerk shall assign the case to the court

division serving the county in which the action arises. A civil action arises in the

county where a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim

occurred, or where a substantial part of the property that is the subject of the action is

situated.

(d) San Francisco and Oakland. Except as provided in Civil L.R. 3-2(c), all civil actions

that arise in the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San

Mateo or Sonoma shall be assigned to the San Francisco Division or the Oakland

Division.

(e) San Jose. Except as provided in Civil L.R. 3-2(c), all civil actions that arise in the

counties of Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito or Monterey shall be assigned to the

San Jose Division.

(f) Eureka. Except as provided in Civil L.R. 3-2(c), all civil actions that arise in the

counties of Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino, except for cases not assigned

to the Magistrate Judges pursuant to the Court’s Assignment Plan, shall be assigned to

the Eureka Division.

(g) Assignment of Action to the Eureka Division. All cases assigned to the Eureka

Division shall be assigned to the full-time Magistrate Judge presiding in that division.

Such assignments are subject to the provisions of Civil L.R. 73 and require the consent

of the parties. Any case for which all parties do not consent will be reassigned to a

District Judge in the San Francisco, Oakland, or San Jose division.

(h) Transfer of Actions and Proceedings. Whenever a Judge finds, upon the Judge’s own

motion or the motion of any party, that (1) a civil action has not been assigned to the

proper division within this district in accordance with this rule, or (2) that the

convenience of the parties and witnesses and the interests of justice will be served by

transferring the action to a different division within the district, the Judge may order

such transfer, subject to the provisions of the Court’s Assignment Plan.