J. Bryant Kasey and Mary Ann Kasey v. Molybdenum Corporation of America, a Corporation

Appellants’ current action in this court is the latest development in legal proceedings dating back to 1959, when appellants seeking recovery of certain mining properties, an accounting, and damages, filed a diversity action in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Jurisdiction was predicated on 28 U.S.C. § 1332 , the district court having found appellants to be California citizens and appellee to be a Delaware corporation. Kasey v. Molybdenum Corp. of America, 336 F.2d 560, 562, n. 1 (9th Cir. 1964). The property that is the subject of the litigation is located at Mountain Pass, California, approximately 240 miles from Los Angeles and 60 miles from Las Vegas, Nevada, where appellants, formerly California residents, now make their home. Citing both the inconvenience of travel to Los Angeles and the alleged bias of the district court hearing the case there, appellants moved, under 28 U.S.C. § 1404 (a), for a change of venue to the United States District Court in Las Vegas. This motion was denied, the district court ruling that suit could not have been instituted in Nevada; that a change of venue would not be in the interest of justice; and that…