Section 11.5 Venue and Jurisdiction

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

A.R.S. § 12-1116 provides that actions for condemnation be brought “as other civil actions in the superior court of the county in which the property is located.”

A.R.S. § 12-1116 provides for the initial venue of a condemnation action. Once the case is filed, however, a general civil change of venue statute may serve as a basis for changing venue. Therefore the defendants were entitled to a change of venue from Maricopa County under A.R.S. § 12-408 since the opposing party was a County.

Maricopa County v. Barkley, 168 Ariz. 234, 812 P.2d 1052 (App. 1990)

The condemnee was not entitled to a change in venue as a matter of right under A.R.S. §12-408, since the statute provides for a change in venue when the opposing party is a county, and here the opposing party was the City of Yuma. The result was not changed by the fact that the City of Yuma constituted more than half of the county’s population.

Ariz. Water Co. v. City of Yuma, 7 Ariz. App. 53, 436 P.2d 147 (1968)

There was no abuse of discretion by the trial judge in denying...