Minatta

This is an appeal by defendants from an order denying their motion for change of venue from Los Angeles County to Humboldt County on the grounds of the convenience of witnesses and that the ends of justice would be promoted by the change. The sole question presented is whether the trial court’s ruling constituted an abuse of discretion.

Plaintiff is a truck operator; he seeks to recover the sum of $67,295.79 claimed to be due as freight undercharges on lumber which he allegedly hauled for defendants from sawmills in Northern California to various outlets in Southern California, principally in Los Angeles County. Defendants were sued individually and as copartners doing business as Pacific Fir Sales. Five of the individual defendants reside in Los Angeles County and the main office of the partnership, where the company’s records are kept, is in this county. One partner, W. J. Ivey, resides in Humboldt County. The action was originally filed in Los Angeles in April, 1955, and an amended complaint incorporating the results of a complicated freight charge rerating, on which this action rests, was filed in September, 1956.

The defendants filed an answer on May 29, 1957, in which they…