Pacific Air Lines, Inc. v. Superior Court

This petition for mandate to compel transfer of a superior court action from San Francisco to Sam Mateo County is a companion ease to 1 Civil No. 22345, decided this day (ante, p. 587 [ 42 Cal.Rptr. 68 ]). Real *592 parties in interest, as heirs at law, seek damages for the death of their intestate in the same airplane accident which gave rise to the wrongful death action in that case. The present ease differs in that plaintiffs here pleaded counts for negligence, breach of contract, breach of warranties (both express and implied) and strict liability in tort. Counts 1 and 4 are in tort, and are disposed of by our opinion in the companion case.

The additional counts, however, sound in contract, and present a new venue issue. Petitioner corporation may be sued “in the county where the contract is made or is to be performed, ... or the breach occurs” (Cal. Const., art. XII, § 16). Real parties concede that the crash occurred in Contra Costa County. They contend neither that the contract of carriage was to be performed in or over San Francisco, nor that the breach occurred in San Francisco. Thus the issue is solely where the contract was “made.” Petitioner’s declaration avers that…