Williams v. Superior Court for County of Contra Costa

This case involved a civil harassment restraining order (Code Civ. Proc., § 527.6) but its holding arguably applies to other civil restraining orders.  In this case, the restrained party asked the trial court to change “venue.”  Venue means the county where the case is heard.  (Code Civ. Proc., § 395.)  For a civil restraining order, the proper venue for a case involving injury to someone or their property, is where the injury happened or where the defendant lives.  In this case, the restraining order request was based largely on electronic communications that the protected party found harassing.  Even though the protected party suffered “physical ailment” from reading the messages, the proper venue was where the restrained party resided.

Importantly, however, the appellate court explained that proper venue is a waivable defense, which means that if no one brings up the issue, any trial court in California can hear a restraining order request.  In legal speak, venue does not “go to the court’s jurisdiction.”  This is important to note because some survivors can still file their restraining order requests where it is most convenient for them, like where they live, even if the respondent does not live there and no injury occurred there, but they should be aware the restrained party could ask to move the case to another court.