Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

The best venue is the locale where the accident happened.

Mr. Cohen is correct as to ONE proper venue, but your issue is jurisdiction. Venue is proper where the accident occurred, or where one of the defendants is domiciled, or if it is a corporation where it is domiciled or has its principal place of business, which aren't always the same.

In federal courts there are two issues of jurisdiction, subject matter and personal. For a case to go forward in a federal court there must be both subject matter and personal jurisdiction.

It sounds like you have subject matter jurisdiction via federal diversity jurisdiction. An OR resident suing a CA resident in CA for over $75,000 qualifies.

Personal jurisdiction is another matter. You will have personal jurisdiction over the CA defendant by virtue of residency being in CA. With no personal contacts with CA, however, unless there are more facts you haven't given, you won't get personal jurisdiction over the NH resident.

There are, however, plenty of ways to work with jurisdictional issues. They are just all fact specific. If you really have a claim for over $75,000.00 and want to literally make a federal case over it, it's time for you to talk to one of us lawyers who litigate in federal court and go over all the facts with him/her to find out your options.

If the injury occurred in LA, that is where you need to bring the action, whether in state or federal court. But, you would also bring it there because one of the defendants lives there. Getting jurisdiction over the NH defendant will be your problem to solve. You need to discuss the actual facts with counsel. If serious about doing so, feel free to contact me; I practice in LA courts regularly.