Opinion ID: 2227047
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: When is a case pending in a court?

Text: When two or more courts have concurrent jurisdiction over the same case, the jurisdiction of the court first acquiring such jurisdiction is deemed exclusive until the case is finally disposed of on appeal or otherwise. International Harvester, 265 Ind. at 177, 352 N.E.2d at 489. Although in International Harvester we issued an original writ of prohibition against a trial court, the problem there was identical to the problem arising from a motion to dismiss under Trial Rule 12(B)(8). See Thrasher, 182 Ind. App. at 127 n. 3, 394 N.E.2d at 222 n. 3; 1 William F. Harvey, Indiana Practice § 12.14, at 612 (1987). Once a court has acquired exclusive jurisdiction over a case, the case is pending in that court within the meaning of Trial Rule 12(B)(8). The rule in Indiana is that jurisdiction over a case becomes exclusive in the court in which the case is first instituted. Taylor v. City of Fort Wayne (1874), 47 Ind. 274, 282; Ensweiler v. City of Gary (1976), 169 Ind. App. 642, 644, 350 N.E.2d 658, 659. In order to be first, an action must be validly instituted. Id. An action is first instituted or commenced when a complaint or other pleading or document contemplated in Trial Rule 3 is filed in a court. Ind.Trial Rule 3; State ex rel. Long v. Marion Super. Ct. Civil Div. (1981), 275 Ind. 533, 418 N.E.2d 218, 219. It is, then, the filing of the complaint or other document contemplated in Trial Rule 3 that determines the moment at which a court acquires exclusive jurisdiction over a case. Id. As we said in Long, When there are courts having concurrent jurisdiction, it is inevitable that there will sometimes be `races to the courthouse' by the would-be litigants. The Clerk's Office is a logical `finish line,' as termination at that point will, in many cases, avert useless proceedings. Id., 418 N.E.2d at 220.