A change of venue is when a court case is moved from one court to another for various reasons, such as improper venue or convenience. The party requesting the change must file an application and a judge will determine if it is granted. This can occur for the convenience of parties or witnesses, or to ensure a fair trial.
As used in reference to a court case, the term venue means the court in which a case may properly be heard. A change of venue occurs when a case is moved from one court to another court. The new court may be located in the same judicial district or in another district. This change can occur for a variety of different reasons, such as improper venue or convenience of the parties.
As a general rule, the party wishing to change court must file a change of venue application with the court where the suit was filed. A hearing may then be scheduled, and a judge will hear each party’s position on the matter when determining whether to grant the motion. If the motion is granted, the judge issues an order for the venue to be changed. The case will then be transferred to the new jurisdiction.
A defendant may request a change of venue because it believes that the plaintiff initially selected an inappropriate venue under applicable procedural rules. In that case, the judge will accept the defendant’s motion and the case will be transferred to the competent forum. Typically, a defendant must file his or her motion for improper venue change before filing a response to the plaintiff’s complaint. If the defendant fails to do so, jurisdiction is generally renounced.
Sometimes changes of venue are requested for the convenience of the parties or witnesses involved. This is referred to as non-convenience forum. For example, suppose a plaintiff files a suit in Court A against a large clothing company for an injury sustained as a result of wearing flammable slippers manufactured by the company. Suppose the clothing company and all witnesses in the case are located in an area under the jurisdiction of Court Z. The company can file a motion to have the case heard in Court Z for the sake of expediency.
Cases of change of venue may occur in order to ensure that the parties receive a fair trial. For example, John Doe is on trial for murder and the prosecution has filed charges in Court A. Court A is located in John’s hometown, and the local press covered the story extensively. John can file a change of venue request to move the case to a more neutral court to ensure he is not unfairly prejudged by a jury made up of his city peers during the trial.
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