Issues: Venue

Plaintiff Whited was involved in a two vehicle accident in Jefferson County in 2008 and filed suit against Wright Brothers and others in 2010 in Walker County. Wright Brothers moved to transfer the matter to Jefferson County. In his complaint, Plaintiff alleged that he was a resident of Blount County, however, Plaintiff responded to the Motion to Transfer stating that he was actually a resident of Walker County, not Blount County. That Plaintiff did reside in Walker County appeared to be undisputed. Plaintiff also stated in his response that Wright Brothers regularly did business in Walker County. Plaintiff did not allege that any of the co-defendants did business in Walker County. Wright Brothers responded by filing an affidavit indicating that it no longer conducted business in Walker County. Following a hearing at which it was alleged that a non-party affiliate of Wright Brothers, WCRP, had its principal location in Walker County, Wright Brothers submitted affidavits stating that WCRP was a separate corporate entity and that in any event, WCRP ceased operations in 1999. The trial court denied Wright Brothers' Motion to Transfer in a one-word Order and the defendants filed a petition for mandamus. Subsequent to the Petition, the trial court entered a detailed "corrected" Order setting forth findings of fact, analysis and conclusions of law. On mandamus, the parties agreed that Whited was a resident of Walker County, and that venue was proper in that county if White Brothers did business by agent in Walker County. The Court first found that there was no authority to find that venue was proper in a county in which a separate, but affiliated company (WCRP) had its principal place of business, and that - in any event - Whited presented no evidence to rebut the material submitted showing that WCRP ceased operation in 1999. The Court found further that Whited submitted no evidence to rebut Wright Brothers evidence that it did not do business by agent in Walker County. Thus, transfer to Jefferson County, the county in which the accident took place, was required. The Court did not consider the trial court's "corrected" Order detailing the reasons for denying the Motion to Transfer finding that to do so would allow the Defendant to be "sandbagged".