Central Contra Costa Sanitary Dist. v. Superior Court

• Citation: 84 Cal.App.3d 702,148 Cal.Rptr. 801
• Court: California Court of Appeals
• Decision Date: 08 September 1978
• Parties: CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA SANITARY DISTRICT, Petitioner, v. SUPERIOR COURT, CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, Respondent; FRED J. EARLY, JR., COMPANY, INC., Real Party in Interest. Civ. 42381.

Page 801

148 Cal.Rptr. 801

84 Cal.App.3d 702

CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA SANITARY DISTRICT, Petitioner, v. SUPERIOR COURT, CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, Respondent FRED J. EARLY, JR., COMPANY, INC., Real Party in Interest.

Civ. 42381.

Court of Appeal, First District, Division 1, California.

Sept. 8, 1978.

John J. Carniato, James E. Allen, Walnut Creek, for petitioner Central Contra Costa Sanitary District.

David Van Hoesen, Williams, Van Hoesen & Brigham, San Francisco, for real party in interest, Fred J. Early, Jr., Co., Inc.

RACANELLI, Presiding Justice.

We issued an alternative writ of mandate to review the propriety of the trial court's order denying petitioner's motion for a change of venue under the relevant provisions of Code of Civil Procedure section 394, subdivision (1). We conclude that the trial court erred in failing to grant the motion changing the place for trial to a neutral county.

Facts

The record reveals the following undisputed allegations of fact: Fred J. Early, Jr. Company, Inc., real party in interest, a corporation having its principal place of business in San Francisco, brought an action for damages against petitioner Central Contra Costa Sanitary District (District) as owner and co-defendant Bechtel, Inc., a corporation, as design engineer and administrator of a certain sewage treatment construction project in Contra Costa County. District is wholly situated in Contra Costa County; co-defendant Bechtel has its principal place of business in San Francisco County. District contended below, as it does here, that the trial court had a mandatory duty to grant its venue motion under Code of Civil Procedure section 394, subdivision (1), which provides in pertinent part as follows:

". . . Whenever an action or proceeding is brought . . . against a . . . local agency, . . . in any county . . . other than that in which the defendant is situated, the action or proceeding Must be, on motion of the said defendant, transferred for trial to a county, or city and county, other than that in which the plaintiff, or any of the plaintiffs, resides, or is doing business, or is situated, and other than the . . . county in which such defendant . . . local agency is situated." (Emphasis added.) Real party in interest, in resisting the motion, argued that section 394 is inapplicable when a defendant local agency is joined with a co-defendant in a suit filed in the latter's county of residence, trial venue being governed by the provisions of Code of Civil Procedure section 395, subdivision (a). ¹ The same argument is renewed in these proceedings.

I. District, a governmental entity organized under the provisions of the Sanitary District Act of 1923 (Health & Saf.Code, § 6400, et seq.), qualifies as a "local agency" within the meaning of section 394 subdivision (3) of the Code of Civil Procedure. (See Garrett v. Superior Court (1974) 11 Cal.3d 245, 247-248, 113 Cal.Rptr. 152, 520 P.2d 968.) The purpose underlying the mandatory venue provisions in section 394 is " 'to guard against local prejudices which sometimes exist in favor of litigants within a county as against those from without and to secure to both parties to a suit a trial upon neutral grounds.' (citation omitted). Furthermore, as remedial legislation, the section is to be liberally construed." (Id. at p. 248, 113 Cal.Rptr. at p. 154, 520 P.2d at p. 970; see also Westinghouse Electric Corp v. Superior Court (1976) 17 Cal.3d 259, 266, 131 Cal.Rptr. 231, 551 P.2d 847.)

II. In Delgado v. Superior Court (1977) 74 Cal.App.3d 560, 141 Cal.Rptr. 528, the Third District Court of Appeal considered a similar mixed venue case involving the conflicting venue provisions of sections 394 and 395. In sustaining the Sacramento Superior Court's order transferring a tort action against Yolo County and resident co-defendants to Yolo County, the Delgado court interpreted the 1970 amendment to the first clause of section 395 (viz: "Except as otherwise provided by law") as a "true subordinating declaration . . . (which) . . . means that section 395 is to be applied only when there is no other applicable venue provision." (At p. 564, 141 Cal.Rptr. at p. 530.) In so holding, that court declared its earlier majority opinion in Channell v. Superior Court (1964) 226 Cal.App.2d 246, 38 Cal.Rptr. 13, was no longer appropriate in light of the subordinating declaration clearly expressed in the 1970 amendment. We agree with the well-reasoned construction of the Delgado court resulting in the dominance of the local venue provisions of section 394, subdivision (1), over the subordinate residence venue provisions contained in the succeeding section.

In view of...