Richfield Hotel Management, Inc. v. Superior Court

[224]

Opinion

ANDERSON, P. J.

respondent superior court in which real parties in interest are plaintiffs. Respondent court denied petitioner’s motion for change of venue and petitioner now seeks a writ of mandate directing the court to vacate its order of denial and grant the motion. (Code Civ. Proc., § 400; all subsequent statutory references to sections of an undesignated code are to the Code of Civil Procedure.) The issue in this proceeding is whether Government Code section 12965, subdivision (b), the venue statute of the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), precludes a change of venue for the convenience of witnesses pursuant to section 397, former subdivision (3).

1

We hold that it does not and that petitioner was entitled to a change of venue on this ground.

On March 15, 1993, real parties in interest filed suit in San Mateo County Superior Court alleging that, while working at the Radisson Hotel Visalia (Hotel), they were sexually harassed by a Hotel employee. Petitioner, as manager of the Hotel, was named as a defendant. The complaint alleges claims under FEHA as well as a common law claim for wrongful constructive termination.

On August 18, 1993, petitioner moved to change venue to Tulare County under section 397, former subdivision (3). That section gives the trial court discretion to transfer cases to promote the convenience of witnesses and the ends of justice. The motion was supported by the declarations of six individuals, employees and former employees of petitioner, who alleged that they had personal knowledge of allegations in the complaint. The six individuals are all currently working in Visalia in restaurant jobs and declare that it would be an inconvenience and a hardship to attend a trial in San Mateo County. Also supporting the motion for transfer was a declaration stating that 11 former employees and 13 current employees of petitioner, identified as witnesses by real parties, live in Tulare County. In addition, the motion revealed that all the health care providers from whom real parties claim they received treatment for their alleged physical and emotional injuries work in the area of Tulare County.

In opposition to the motion to change venue, real parties took the position that venue is exclusively proper in San Mateo County under the specific venue statute covering FEHA actions and that section 397, former subdivision (3), is not applicable. Real parties also contended that petitioner had not