For your second litigation assignment, you are a summer associate for the law firm that represents Melody Richardson, the woman who is trying to auction the sculpture “Boothbay Falcon.” Your job is to draft a motion to dismiss the Complaint that you prepared in Chapter Two. The assignment arrives in the form of the following memo:

MEMORANDUM

The Law Offices of Jones, Jones & Day

100 Commercial Street

Portland, Maine 04101

To: Summer Associate

Fr: Stephen Jones, Senior Partner

Re: United States v. Melody Richardson, Civil Docket No. 2002–04-EJR

I have a new assignment for you. Our client is Melody Richardson, a very nice woman from San Diego whose grandfather was David Collins, the American Ambassador to Canada from 1944–1947. It seems that our client inherited a sculpture from her grandfather, and the government is now trying to take it away from her.

From our perspective, venue is very important. Our client simply cannot afford to litigate this case in Maine and incur the cost of flying back and forth from California. I want you to draft a motion to dismiss the Complaint on the grounds of improper venue pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(3). You should rely on the appropriate portion of the venue statute, 28 U.S.C. §1391.

Attached is an affidavit from our client. As you can see, she is a resident of California, and the sculpture was never in Maine. Put together an argument that venue is improper in Maine and that the case should be dismissed pursuant to the applicable subsection in 28 U.S.C. §1391.