Is a defendant in a multi-cause action entitled to a transfer of the entire action?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Jhirmack Enterprises, Inc. v. Superior Court, 158 Cal.Rptr. 192, 96 Cal.App.3d 715 (Cal. App. 1979):

There is a long established principle that when a complaint states multiple causes of action, a defendant who is entitled to a change of venue as to one cause is entitled to a transfer of the entire action. In Ah Fong v. Sternes (1889) 79 Cal. 30, 33, 21 P. 381, 382, the court said: "It is the plaintiff's own doing if the complaint be so drawn. He cannot deprive the defendant of his right to a change of venue by the addition of something to the complaint. If this were not the rule, it would be very easy for a plaintiff to defeat the defendant's right in the matter. All that plaintiff would have to do would be to add another cause of action to his complaint. It need not be a genuine cause of action. And it would not matter whether the two causes of action were properly united or not. For the defendant could not compel their separation by demurrer before moving for a change of venue, because he is required to take his proceedings for such change at the time of answering or demurring. (Code Civ.Proc., section 396.) And the 'right is to be determined by the condition of things existing at the time the parties claiming it first appeared in the action.' "

The subsequent case law has applied that principle to corporations who are defendants in multi-cause actions.

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