Dept. of the Cal. Highway Patrol v. Superior Court CA3

DISCUSSION

Because the underlying mandamus action seeks judicial review of an administrative decision pursuant to section 1094.5, venue is governed by section 393. (Sutter Union High School Dist. v. Superior Court (1983) 140 Cal.App.3d 795, 797; Lynch, supra, 7 Cal.App.3d at pp. 930-931; Duval v. Contractors State License Board (1954) 125 Cal.App.2d 532, 535.) Section 393 states in pertinent part that “the county in which the cause, or some part of the cause, arose, is the proper county for the trial.” The “cause” is the employee’s cause against the discharging agency. (Lynch, supra, 7 Cal.App.3d at pp. 931-932.) Concomitantly, the critical locus is the employee’s

3 place of employment when he or she was dismissed—not the agency’s location where it made the determination to dismiss him or her—as explained in Lynch. (Ibid.) Lynch involved a former Department of Justice employee who brought a petition for writ of mandate in Santa Cruz County Superior Court, challenging the Board’s affirmance of his dismissal. (Lynch, supra, 7 Cal.App.3d at p. 930.) After a motion to transfer venue to San Francisco County was denied, a petition for writ of mandate was filed in the Court of Appeal.…