Facts: Petitioner Valentine Miller was named as a defendant in a civil suit filed in the Superior Court for Spokane County. Miller subsequently filed a motion for a change of venue to the Superior Court for Adams County, asserting that the Superior Court for Spokane County was without jurisdiction to try the case as he was a resident of Adams County and had been served with process there. The Superior Court for Spokane County rejected Miller’s motion, leading him to seek a writ of prohibition from the Supreme Court of Washington that would enjoin any further proceedings from taking place in the Superior Court for Spokane County.

Question(s): Was the fact that the Superior Court for Spokane County assumed jurisdiction where jurisdiction was apparently denied by law sufficient grounds for granting a writ of prohibition?

Conclusion: Justice Rudkin’s opinion for a unanimous Court ruled that the fact that the Superior Court for Spokane County appeared to lack jurisdiction was by itself an insufficient basis for granting a writ of prohibition. As the general policy of the Supreme Court of Washington was that cases come before it only once and are decided on the merits of the entire controversy and as Miller had preserved his ability to appeal the issue of venue after final judgment and therefore had an adequate remedy, the Court denied the application for the writ.

Docket No. 5944

Petitioner: Valentine Miller

Respondent: Superior Court for Spokane County

Decided: Saturday, November 25th, 1905

Vote: 7-0

Opinion: 40 Wash. 555 (1905)

Court: Mount1 Court (1905-1906)

Mount

Dunbar

Fullerton

Hadley

Rudkin

Root

Crow