County of San Bernardino v. Superior Court

In this matter we are asked to join those unfortunate few of our colleagues who have been compelled to parse a statute which the mildest court has called “complicated” and the most forthright has accurately described as a “mass of cumbersome phraseology”—section 394 of the Code of Civil Procedure. (Cf. Colusa Air Pollution Control Dist. v. Superior Court (1991) 226 Cal.App.3d 880, 889 [ 277 Cal.Rptr. 110 ]; Fitzpatrick v. County of Sonoma (1929) 97 Cal.App. 588, 590 [ 276 P. 113 ].) We conclude that the first operative clause of the statute operates as a removal clause. As a result, we find that petitioner the County of San Bernardino improperly attempted to lay venue in Riverside County, and that the trial court correctly granted the motion to change venue made on the basis of wrong court by real parties the City of Adelanto et al.

Background

This action is one of several lawsuits arising out of Adelanto’s efforts to gain some measure of control over the real property comprising George Air Force Base, after the federal authorities relinquish the property upon the closure of the military facility. However, in this case the issue is indirect; the County is suing to…