§82.5 Purpose and Procedure

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§82.5PURPOSE AND PROCEDURE

Venue is the location where an action may be commenced. It must be differentiated from jurisdiction, which refers to the power of a court to decide a particular lawsuit. Once a court has jurisdiction of a case, venue rules determine which among several courts should decide the matter. They prevent a plaintiff from commencing an action in a remote court where a defense might be unduly burdensome.

Venue rules distinguish actions that are local from those that are not local. Local actions are those so closely involving real or personal property that they must be commenced in the county where the property is located. "The term 'transitory action' encompasses those actions which at common law might be tried wherever personal service can be obtained as opposed to in rem proceedings which are local in nature." Shelton v. Farkas,30 Wn.App. 549, 554 n.6, 635 P.2d 1109 (1981), review denied, 96 Wn.2d 1026 (1982).

Statutes prescribe most of the substantive provisions relating to venue. Statutes that are jurisdictional or local in nature preempt CR 82. As to transitory actions that are not covered by statutes, CR 82 governs, including venue against nonresidents, waiver of improper venue, and payment of...