Ross et al. v. Waters

Summary

The Georgia Court of Appeals held that venue for a renewal medical malpractice action was improper in DeKalb County because the defendant corporation had been administratively dissolved and its last registered office was in Fulton County. The court reversed the trial court’s denial of the defendants’ motion to dismiss or transfer and remanded with direction to transfer the case to Fulton County. Because the DeKalb County court lacked venue, it did not reach the issue of whether the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act tolled the medical malpractice statute of repose.

Holdings

1. Venue was not proper in DeKalb County because, at the time the renewal action was filed, Ross Orthopaedic had been administratively dissolved and no longer maintained an office or transacted business there. Venue therefore lay in Fulton County, where the corporation had last maintained its registered office before dissolution and where Dr. Ross resided.
2. Because venue was improper in DeKalb County, the trial court lacked authority to rule on the defendants' motion to dismiss based on expiration of the medical-malpractice statute of repose.

Questions Presented

1. Whether venue for Waters's renewal medical-malpractice action against Dr. Ross and the administratively dissolved corporation was proper in DeKalb County.
2. Whether the trial court had authority to rule on defendants' statute-of-repose motion when venue was improper.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded