Rule Text
1.808(1) An action brought in the wrong county may be prosecuted there until termination, unless a defendant, before answer, moves for change to the proper county. Thereupon the court shall order the change at plaintiff’s costs, which may include reasonable compensation for defendant’s trouble and expense, including attorney’s fees, in attending in the wrong county.
1.808(2) If all such costs are not paid within 20 days of the transfer order, the action shall be dismissed. Upon payment of the costs, the clerk shall forthwith transmit to the proper court the transcript of the proceedings, with any original papers, an authenticated copy of which shall be retained. The case shall be docketed in the second court without fee and shall proceed.
Amendment history: Report 1943; November 30, 1993, effective July 1, 1994; October 31, 1997, effective January 24, 1998; November 9, 2001, effective February 15, 2002
Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)
This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.
If someone files a lawsuit in the wrong county, the case can still move forward there unless the defendant speaks up. The defendant has to file a motion asking for a change of county before they file their answer to the lawsuit. If they do this, the court must move the case to the correct county.
When the court orders this change, the person who filed the lawsuit (the plaintiff) has to pay for it. This includes covering the defendant's costs and trouble for having to deal with the case in the wrong location, including attorney fees. The plaintiff has 20 days to pay these costs after the court orders the transfer.
If the plaintiff does not pay within those 20 days, the court will dismiss the case entirely. If the plaintiff does pay on time, the court clerk sends all the case records to the correct county's court. The clerk keeps a copy of everything for their own records. The case then gets set up in the new court at no extra charge, and it continues from there.
