Kingdom Retail Group, LLP v. Pandora Franchising, LLC, 334 Ga. App. 812

Kingdom Retail Group (Thomasville, GA) sued Pandora Franchising (LLC, principal place of business Columbia, Maryland) in Thomas County for torts arising from an alleged improper interference with Kingdom’s attempted purchase of Pandora franchises.
Kingdom alleged the tortious acts occurred in Thomas County and filed claims including tortious interference, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, defamation, and estoppel.
Pandora filed a "Notice of Removal of Venue" under OCGA § 14-2-510(b)(4), asserting its Georgia "principal place of business" is in Gwinnett County (based on registered agent and local franchising activity) and sought transfer to Gwinnett Superior Court.
The Thomas County court granted the transfer to Gwinnett County; Kingdom obtained a certificate of immediate review and appealed to the Georgia Court of Appeals.
The central legal question was the meaning of "principal place of business" in OCGA § 14-2-510(b)(4): whether it refers to a defendant’s principal place of business within Georgia or the company’s national principal place of business.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether OCGA § 14-2-510(b)(4) permits removal to the county in Georgia where the defendant maintains its "principal place of business" when the defendant’s overall principal place of business is outside Georgia	Kingdom: "principal place of business" means the company’s national principal place of business; Pandora’s principal place is Maryland, so subsection (b)(4) does not authorize removal to Gwinnett	Pandora: subsection (b)(4) refers to the defendant’s principal place of business in Georgia; Pandora presented evidence its Georgia principal place is Gwinnett (registered agent, franchising activity)	Held for Kingdom: "principal place of business" refers to the corporation’s overall (national) principal place of business; Pandora’s principal place is Maryland, so OCGA § 14-2-510(b)(4) did not authorize transfer to Gwinnett; trial court’s transfer reversed and remanded with instruction to return case to Thomas County

McLendon v. Albany Warehouse Co., 203 Ga. App. 865 (discusses any-evidence rule for venue-transfer hearings)
Ross v. Waters, 332 Ga. App. 623 (reviews trial court’s application of law de novo)
WBC Holdings v. Thornton, 213 Ga. App. 48 (statutory venue provisions are cumulative)
Lima Delta Co. v. Global Aerospace, 325 Ga. App. 76 (uses "principal place of business" to denote a single, geographic nerve-center)
Conex Freight Sys. v. Ga. Ins. Insolvency Pool, 254 Ga. App. 92 (recognizes that a company may not have its principal place of business in Georgia)
Orkin Exterminating Co. v. Gilland, 130 Ga. App. 788 (courts may take judicial notice of Secretary of State records)