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Shoop v. Kittitas County9/10/2001
The Legislature has recently manifested its intent that RCW 36.01.050 should be construed as a venue statute. Therefore, when a plaintiff commences suit against a county in the superior court of a county not designated in RCW 36.01.050, the suit need not be dismissed for want of subject matter jurisdiction. We reverse the order of dismissal and remand for transfer to a proper county under the change of venue statute.
The statute at issue, RCW 36.01.050, was first adopted in 1963. Until 1997, it provided that an action against a county could be commenced in an adjoining county: 'All actions against any county may be commenced in the superior court of such county, or of the adjoining county, and all actions by any county shall be commenced in the superior court of the county in which the defendant resides, or in the county adjoining the county by which such action is commenced.' Laws of 1963, ch. 4.
The Legislature amended the statute in 1997 by the enactment of Senate Bill 5831, effective July 27, 1997. The amended version did not allow commencement of the action in an adjoining county unless it was one of the two 'nearest' counties as measured by the administrator for the courts:
(1) All actions against any county may be commenced in the superior court of such county, or in the superior court of either of the two nearest counties. All actions by any county shall be commenced in the superior court of the county in which the defendant resides, or in either of the two counties nearest to the county bringing the action.
(2)The determination of the nearest counties is measured by the travel time between county seats using major surface routes, as determined by the office of the administrator for the courts.
Appellant Cathleen Shoop was seriously injured in November 1996 in a one- car accident on the icy Cle Elum River bridge, located in Kittitas County. In 1999, she sued Kittitas County in King County. This was a mistake. King County adjoins Kittitas County, but it is not one of the two 'nearest' counties. As determined by the administrator for the courts, the two nearest counties were Yakima County and Grant County.
Kittitas County moved to dismiss on the basis that the superior court of King County lacked subject matter jurisdiction. When a court lacks subject matter jurisdiction in a case, dismissal is the only permissible action the court may take. Inland Foundry Co., Inc. v. Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority, 98 Wn. App. 121, 123-24, 989 P.2d 102 (1999), KSLW v. City of Renton, 47 Wn. App. 587, 595, 736 P.2d 664 (1986). Dismissal would have the effect of terminating Shoop's claim against Kittitas County because the statute of limitations had run and would bar a newly-filed action. Shoop responded with a motion to transfer venue to Yakima County, which, if granted, would allow her case to proceed within the statute of limitations. See RCW 4.12.030(1). The King County Superior Court concluded, however, that because King County was not a proper county for commencement of the action, the King County court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. The court granted the motion to dismiss. Shoop appeals, seeking to have her case reinstated subject to her motion to transfer venue to Yakima County.
For the proposition that King County lacked subject matter jurisdiction, respondent Kittitas County relies on Aydelotte v. Audette, 110 Wn.2d 249, 750 P.2d 1276 (1988), and Cossel v. Skagit County, 119 Wn.2d 434, 834 P.2d 609 (1992). The action in Aydelotte was against a public officer. Under RCW 4.12.020(2), suits against public officers must be tried 'in the county where the cause, or s
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