§ 8.01-265.Change of venue by court.

Section 8.01-265 gives a court discretion to move a case even when venue is technically proper. On motion and for good cause, the court can take one of two paths: dismiss the action without prejudice, under conditions the court sets, potentially including a promise not to raise a statute-of-limitations defense elsewhere, when a nonresident plaintiff’s claim arose outside Virginia and a more convenient forum with jurisdiction over everyone exists outside the Commonwealth; or transfer the case to any fair and convenient forum with jurisdiction inside Virginia.

The court can also do the opposite of transferring: on motion and for good cause, it may retain an action for trial even where venue would otherwise be subject to challenge. But there is a hard limit on both moves — absent agreement of all parties, a Category A action under § 8.01-261 cannot be transferred to, or retained by, a forum outside that category. Good cause reaches beyond a fixed list — the statute names party agreement and avoiding substantial inconvenience to parties or witnesses as examples, not the only grounds. The dismissal option does not apply to causes of action accruing under § 8.01-249(4).