Colorado § 7-30-112 - Venue.

§ 7-30-112. Venue.

For purposes of venue, a nonprofit association is a resident of a county or city and county in which it has an office.

Source: L. 94: Entire article added, p. 1275, § 1, effective May 22.

OFFICIAL COMMENT

1. Venue, unlike service of process, is treated by statute. See for example Mont. Code Ann. Section 25-2-118(1) (1991); 28 USCA 1391. A criterion used by all states for fixing venue is the county of residence of the defendant. Most states specify as many as eight additional grounds for venue, including the county in which the real estate that is the subject of the suit is situated and the county in which the act causing, in whole or in part, the personal injury or other tort occurred. None of these additional criteria present a special problem with respect to an unincorporated, nonprofit association.

2. If an aggregate view of a nonprofit association were taken, the association is resident in any county in which a member resides. See Wright, Miller, & Cooper, 15 Federal Procedure & Practice 3812 (1986). Conforming to the entity view of an association, Section 12 (numbered as section 7-30-112 in C.R.S.) rejects the common law view.

This section is bracketed because some states have already satisfactorily solved this problem.

States have by statute modified the common law rule. Illinois, for example, provides that "a voluntary unincorporated association sued in its own name is a resident of any county in which it has an office or if on due inquiry no office can be found, in which any officer resides." Ill. Code Civ. Prac. Section 2-102(c).

3. Section 12 (numbered as section 7-30-112 in C.R.S.) makes a nonprofit association a resident of any county (or city) in which it has an office. If it has an office in five counties, for example, it may be sued in any of the five counties.

4. "City," in brackets, is for use by those states, such as Virginia, in which there is territory that is not in a county but in a city only.