In another salvo in the ongoing public debate over forum shopping in bankruptcy cases, a federal judge in New York has ordered the Winn-Dixie case be transferred from the Southern District of New York to the Middle District of Florida in Jacksonville.

Winn-Dixie Stores Inc., a Fortune 500 grocery store operator headquartered in Jacksonville with 920 stores in eight Southern states, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York in February.

In March, a Birmingham, Ala.-based Pepsi bottler, Buffalo Rock Co., filed a change of venue motion alleging that Winn-Dixie fabricated venue by creating a subsidiary in New York less than two weeks before filing for bankruptcy. Several southern-based creditors joined the motion. Some claimed it would be prohibitively expensive to participate in bankruptcy proceedings in New York.

In late March, Winn-Dixie asked the New York court to reject Buffalo Rock’s motion, but grant its own change of venue request. Judge Robert D. Drain did so on April 14.

In a release following the ruling, Winn-Dixie responded to allegations of forum shopping by noting that Judge Drain had concluded from the record that the initial decision to file in New York was made in good faith.

Judge Drain’s order stated venue transfer was being ordered “for the reasons set forth by the Court in its bench ruling on the record at the Hearing, which is incorporated herein,” but did not elaborate on the dispute in his order.

The ruling comes at a time when bankruptcy venue is a hot topic. Accusations of forum shopping are on the rise as large cases increasingly land on the doorsteps of the New York and Delaware bankruptcy courts.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) introduced a bill earlier this year that would have required corporate debtors to file for bankruptcy in their principal places of business or where their principal assets are located, but the bill was not incorporated into the comprehensive bankruptcy reform act signed by President Bush in April.