Opinion ID: 1819049
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: transfer versus dismissal

Text: Although the Florida Constitution does not specifically address the proper disposition of cases where improper venue is sought, it does address several analogous issues: The supreme court shall adopt rules for the practice and procedure in all courts including the time for seeking appellate review, the administrative supervision of all courts, the transfer to the court having jurisdiction of any proceeding when the jurisdiction of another court has been improvidently invoked, and a requirement that no cause shall be dismissed because an improper remedy has been sought. Art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const. (emphasis added). This provision reasonably may be read as standing for the proposition that a cause generally should not be dismissed because of a technical flaw in the site of a filing or in the designation of a filing, if the flaw is readily remediable by the court. Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.060 specifically addresses the issue of improper venue and provides as follows in relevant part: (b) Wrong Venue. When any action is filed laying venue in the wrong county, the court may transfer the action . . . to the proper court in any county where it might have been brought in accordance with the venue statutes. When the venue might have been laid in 2 or more counties, the person bringing the action may select the county to which the action is transferred, but if no such selection is made, the matter shall be determined by the court. Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.060(b) (emphasis added). This rule gives a court authority to transfer a case when improper venue is sought; and transfer, rather than dismissal, is the preferred remedy in such a case. See generally Griffith v. Crosby, 898 So.2d 212 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005) (holding that, in a prisoner's challenge to a sentence-reducing credit determination by the Department, the circuit court in Highlands County, where the petitioner was sentenced, erred in dismissing the case rather than transferring it to circuit court in Leon County, where the Department is located). [13] In the present case, as noted above, the following transpired: the circuit court in the Second Judicial Circuit in Leon County, where the Department is located, dismissed Bush's initial mandamus petition for lack of jurisdiction under Schmidt; the circuit court in the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit in Seminole County, where Bush was sentenced, dismissed Bush's subsequent mandamus petition, stating that the court cannot entertain a civil petition in a criminal case; and the Fifth District Court of appeal affirmed the ruling of the latter circuit court and held that venue for this action properly lies in Leon County. Bush now contends that the district court erred in affirming the order dismissing the case, rather than directing the circuit court to transfer the case to circuit court in Leon County. We agree. As explained above, transfer rather than dismissal is the preferred remedy in such a case.