EeshWillSkate Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Eesh lives in Henrico County and Misery lives in
> Loudoun County.
> All the offenses took place in Loudoun or online.
> Why does Fairfax Circuit Court have any
> jurisdiction?
WARNING: The following post is rated tl;dr.
You are confusing
jurisdiction with
venue.
Circuit Courts in Virginia are courts of general jurisdiction, meaning they can hear both criminal cases and civil cases. Because of the fact that all parties to the suit live in Virginia, the tortious acts took place in Virginia, and the amount of the lawsuit, the Circuit Court in this case
does have jurisdiction over the lawsuit.
However, the Circuit in which venue can properly be laid, that is, where the case should be heard and the trial held, is the issue here.
The Misery family lives in Loudoun county, and some of the tortious acts took place in Loudoun county. Loudoun county is part of the 20th Circuit.
However, eesh lives in Henrico county, and also committed some of his tortious acts while in Henrico, which is the 14th Circuit. (Some of the tortious acts may also have been committed while eesh was in the City of Richmond, which is the 13th Circuit, or in Chesterfield county, which is the 12th Circuit, but neither of these is a serious candidate for a venue change.)
The server for Fairfax Underground is physically located in Fairfax county, which is the 19th Circuit, and where the suit was originally filed.
Venue in Virginia is statutory, and controlled by Virginia Code §§ 8.01-257 through 267. The most relevant statute seems to be 8.01-262(4), which states that a permissible venue is that wherein the cause of action or any part thereof arose.
I'd say that the fact that the server for Fairfax Underground is located in Fairfax County indicates that venue has been properly chosen, but even if it hasn't, a defect of venue is not sufficient to dismiss the case. Rather, a defect of venue has three remedies:
1) Transfer the case to the proper or more convenient forum, which would likely be the 20th Circuit. Eesh's attorney
might try to have the trial moved to the 14th Circuit, but I doubt he'd be successful.
2) Retain the case because the proper forum is inconvenient. The convenience of the forum is not really an issue. It's only a 90 minute drive from Henrico to Fairfax, and eesh regularly drives that distance and further.
3) Eesh's attorney can waive improper jurisdiction and the case moves forward in the 19th Circuit.
Here's an article from the Virginia Bar Associaton News Journal which discusses venue in Virginia in depth, and is even longer than this long-ass post:
http://www.troutmansanders.com/files/upload/Venue_in_Virginia_Putting_the_Where_in_Wherefore.pdf
"Only good things can come of more communication." - Cary Wiedemann, March 3, 2005