Court Opinion

ID: 9573627
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:57:20.968599+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:42:11.857625
License: Public Domain

Sognier, Chief Judge,
concurring specially.
I I concur fully in Division 3 and concur in the result reached by the majority in Division 2. However, I cannot concur with the ration-lie advanced in Division 1 or with all that is said in Division 2 because I disagree with the majority’s interpretation of OCGA § 9-11-13 |h).
OCGA § 9-11-13 (h) provides that “the court shall order [the ad-itional parties] to be brought in as defendants as provided in this *642chapter, if jurisdiction of them can be obtained.” (Emphasis supplied.) I read that language to mean that jurisdiction is a threshold inquiry. As in any other action, jurisdiction over a party must be established before the court can enter any rulings binding the party. Contrary to the majority’s assertion, personal jurisdiction encompasses more than service of process. Venue is also a component of jurisdiction over the person, Williams v. Fuller, 244 Ga. 846, 849 (262 SE2d 135) (1979); Goodman v. Vilston, 197 Ga. App. 718, 721 (399 SE2d 241) (1990), and a court which does not have venue over a person lacks jurisdiction over that person. Williams, supra at 849-850 (3, 4).
Moreover, even assuming Co-op Mtg. Investments Assoc. v. Pendley, 134 Ga. App. 236, 238 (1) (214 SE2d 572) (1975), cited by the majority, was correct in concluding that the “in this chapter” language in OCGA § 9-11-13 (h) refers to OCGA § 9-11-19 (but see Ga. L. 1966, p. 626, § 13 (h), which shows that in the original enactment of OCGA § 9-11-13 (h), which has not been amended, the reference was to the entire Civil Practice “Act”), nothing in OCGA § 9-11-19 suggests that jurisdiction and venue should be inquired into only after the party is added. It does not modify the jurisdictional prerequisite in OCGA § 9-11-13 (h), but instead imposes additional requirements regarding the connection of the proposed additional party to the underlying action. Further, when in an ongoing action such as this one, the court knows before the additional defendant is added that it does not have venue, in the interest of judicial economy the trial court should inquire into its jurisdiction in advance. Accordingly, I conclude that venue is a threshold question that must be addressed by the courts when considering a motion to add a party pursuant to OCGA § 9-11-13 (h).
In the instant case, the record reveals that jurisdiction over ap-pellee’s counsel as a counterclaim defendant cannot be obtained because venue against him would not lie in Cobb County where the suit is pending. The attorney is a Georgia resident but does not reside in Cobb County, and appellee, the current counterclaim defendant, is a resident of Alabama. As a general rule, our Constitution provides that for in personam actions, venue lies in the county of the defendant’s place of residence. Ga. Const., Art. VI, Sec. II, Pars. I, VI (1983). Although the Constitution states that “[s]uits against . . . joint tort' feasors residing in different counties may be tried in either county,” (Art. VI, Sec. II, Par. IV), an individual defendant who lives outside the State does not “reside” in Georgia for purposes of this joint tortfeasor venue provision. Goodman, supra. While a nonresident such as appellee, who voluntarily institutes a lawsuit in a Georgie court is deemed to submit herself, for all purposes of that suit, to th( jurisdiction of the courts of the county in which the suit is pending *643Biddinger v. Fletcher, 224 Ga. 501, 504 (162 SE2d 414) (1968), such a plaintiff nevertheless remains a nonresident as defined in OCGA § 9-10-90 and does not become a “resident” of that county so as to submit a Georgia resident of another county to the jurisdiction of the courts of the forum county under the joint tortfeasor venue provision. Cf. Goodman, supra (Long-Arm Statute may permit jurisdiction over a non-Georgian but does not make that person a “resident” for joint venue). Thus, the joint tortfeasor provision cannot be used to obtain venue over a Georgia resident as a joint tortfeasor of another defendant who is not a resident of Georgia, and venue against the Georgia defendant lies only in the county of his residence. Id.; see Bergen v. Martindale-Hubbell, 245 Ga. 742, 743 (2) (267 SE2d 10) (1980). The transfer procedure proposed by the majority would not solve the venue problem in this action because appellee, the current counterclaim defendant, is not a Georgia resident and has not submitted to jurisdiction except in Cobb County, whereas venue over her counsel, the proposed additional counterclaim codefendant, can only be obtained elsewhere. Accordingly, I conclude that the trial court’s denial of appellant’s motion to add appellee’s counsel as a party defendant was correct because venue over appellee’s counsel cannot be obtained in Cobb County, the forum where the counterclaim is pending.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge McMurray and Presiding Judge Birdsong join in this special concurrence.