SCLCRLJ 3.
           FILING OF CIVIL AND SMALL CLAIMS CASES


     (a)  General Provision.  Any Civil or Small Claim
action brought in the Court shall be filed in the division
in which the defendant, or, if there be more than one
defendant, where one of the defendants resides at the time
the complaint is filed or in which the defendant, or, if
there be more than one defendant, where one of the
defendants may be served with the notice and complaint.  If
the residence of the defendant is not ascertained by
reasonable efforts, the action may be filed in the division
in which the defendant’s place of actual physical employment
is located.

     (b)  Recovery of Personal Property.  Any action for the
recovery of possession of personal property shall be filed
in the division in which the subject matter of the action or
some part thereof is situated.

     (c)  Actions for a Penalty.  An action for a penalty
shall be filed in the division where the cause of action, or
some part thereof, arose.

     (d)  Personal Injuries and Property Damage.  An action
for the recovery of damages for injuries to the person or
for injury to personal property may be filed either in the
division in which the cause of action arose, or in the
division in which the defendant, or, if there be more than
one defendant, where some one of the defendants resides at
the time the complaint is filed.

     (e)  Non-Resident Defendants.  An action brought
against a non-resident of this state may be filed in any
division where service of process may be had, or in which
the cause of action or some part thereof arose, or in which
the plaintiff or one of them resides.

     (f)  Corporate Defendants.  For the purposes of this
rule, the residence of a corporation defendant shall be
deemed to be in any division where the corporation transacts
business, or has an office for the transaction of business
at the time the cause of action arose, or where any person
resides upon whom process may be served upon the
corporation.

     (g)  Impound Hearings.  Impound Hearings shall be filed
in the division in which the impound of the vehicle
occurred.

     (h)  Transfer of Non-Jury Civil or Small Claim Cases.
If a civil or small claim action is filed in the wrong
division, the action shall remain there unless the defendant
requests a transfer of the action to the proper division.
Upon such demand the court may enter an order transferring
the action to the proper division and may award the
defendant the reasonable costs associated with the transfer
of the action, including a reasonable attorneys fee, to be
paid by the plaintiff.

     (i)  Transfer of Civil Jury Cases.  Upon the court’s
own motion or the motion of any party the Presiding Judge
may enter a written order transferring the case to a
different division.

     (j)  The filing of a case in the improper division does
not create a jurisdictional defect and does not, of itself,
grant or deprive the Court of jurisdiction otherwise
conferred by law.


[Effective September 1, 2003]