Venue for a Civil Trial - Explained
What is Venue in a Civil Trial?
Written by J. Mance Gordon
Updated at April 20th, 2024
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What is Venue?
Venue is the physical location (within the state or federal circuit) where the trial is conducted.
More discuss on Venue below.
How to determine the appropriate Venue?
A state may contain more than one federal courthouse.
Further, states generally have courthouses located in every county, district, or precinct within the state.
Once the court establishes subject-matter jurisdiction over the type of case and personal jurisdiction over the defendant, there is a question as to the appropriate venue for the trial or hearing.
The appropriate venue is generally the courthouse located in the county, district, or precinct that is most closely related to the matter in controversy.
- Relevant Law: The federal rule for venue is located at 28 USC 1391.
This could be the location where the controversial activity (such as the tort or breach of contract) took place.
Alternatively, it could be the locale where the plaintiff or defendant resides.
If the parties live in different towns, the place where the activity in controversy occurred or the defendant's local is generally the appropriate court.
- Relevant Law: The federal rule for change of venue is located at 28 USC 1404.
A court may transfer venue to another court in the state if mutually requested by both parties or other equities require a transfer.
The reasons for transferring the venue of a trial to another court in the state are to avoid one party having a home-field advantage or one party is subject to a biased jury pool.
For example, one party's home locality may be more likely to find in her favor at trial.
Similarly, an individual accused of a horrible crime in a community may be subject to undue bias by prospective jurors.
- Note: State rules concerning venue will be the subject of the particular state's rules of civil procedure.
Related Topics
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- Who are the parties to a lawsuit?
- What is standing to sue?
- Venue
- What is personal jurisdiction?
- What is a class action?
- What are the pleadings?
- What is discovery?
- What is the scope of discovery?
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- Punitive Damages
- Replevin
- What is joint and several liability?
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- Amicus Curiae Brief
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