Venue

Venue describes the location or place in which a lawsuit may be brought. Chapter 47, Fla. Stat., governs Venue in Florida. Sec. 47.011, Fla. Stat., which governs suits involving Florida Residents, provides:


 * Actions shall be brought only in the county where the defendant resides, where the cause of action accrued, or where the property in litigation is located. This section shall not apply to actions against nonresidents.

Improper venue must be raised in a Motion to Dismiss.

Where venue is proper in more than one location, the Plaintiff has the first choice of venue, which she makes by choosing where to file the lawsuit. Unless the Plainitff's venue choice is improper, it will be honored. McDaniel Reserve Realty Holdings, LLC v. B.S.E. Consultants, Inc., 39 So.3d 504, 508 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010). Accordingly, the Plaintiff also bears the initial burden of alleging facts sufficient to support her venue choice in the Complaint. ''Am. Vehicle Ins. Co. v. Goheagan'', 35 So.3d 1003 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010).

Once the Plaintiff has alleged facts to support her venue decision, the burden to rebut the Plaintiff's venue choice shifts to the Defendant. The Defendant can rebut those allegations by filing controverting affidavits, which then shifts the burden back to the Plaintiff.

If the trial court determines that venue is, in fact, improper, then the Court may transfer the case to another court where venue is proper. Drucker v. Duval, Case No. 4D10-4443 (Fla. 4th DCA May 18, 2011), citing [http://floridacivpro.com/Rule1060.php Fla. R. Civ. P. 1060(b)].

Tort
For purposes of Venue a tort claim is deemed to have accrued where the last event necessary to make the defendant liable for the tort took place or in the county where the plaintiff first suffered injury McDaniel Reserve Realty Holdings, LLC, 39 So.3d at 509.

Real Property
See Goedmakers v. Goedmakers, 520 So.2d 575, 578-79 (Fla. 1988)

Breach of Contract
forum selection clauses in contracts are preemptively valid and will be enforced unless it would unreasonable or unjust to do so. Drucker, Case No. 4D10-4443 (Fla. 4th DCA May 18, 2011), citing ''Bombardier Capital Inc. v. Progressive Mktg. Grp. Inc., 801 So.2d 131, 134 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001)