In this interlocutory appeal, Georgia Casualty & Surety Company “Georgia Casualty” appeals from the Superior Court of Haralson County’s order transferring Georgia Casualty’s declaratory judgment action to Muscogee County Superior Court. Georgia Casualty asserts: 1 that the trial court’s order did not comply with the procedural requirements for transfer based upon convenience; 2 that the vanishing venue doctrine should not be applied to the facts of this case to affirm the trial court’s transfer order; and 3 that its declaratory judgment action was an action in equity not subject to transfer for vanishing venue. For the reasons set forth below, we vacate the trial court’s order transferring this case to Muscogee County and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. The record shows that Joyce Harris, a Haralson County resident, sued Valley Wood, LLC in Haralson County for breach of a timber cutting contract and various tort claims. Valley Wood made a claim for insurance coverage to its insurer, Georgia Casualty, in connection with Harris’s lawsuit, as well as for theft by its employee, Robert Ziegelasch. Georgia Casualty subsequently filed a declaratory judgment action against Harris, Valley Wood, and Ziegelasch in Haralson County seeking a declaration that: 1 it had no obligation to provide a defense or indemnity to any of the named defendants for Harris’s claims and 2 that the policy provided no coverage for Valley Woods’s first party theft claim.
Over a year later, Harris settled with Valley Wood and moved to be dismissed from Georgia Casualty’s declaratory judgment action. The trial court granted her motion in an order titled “Order Dismissing Joyce Davis With Prejudice .” In the body of its order, however, the trial court ruled: Ms. Davis has acknowledged that she has had the opportunity to fully litigate those issues in this case, but because she has already obtained relief on her claims, has determined that it is no longer necessary for her to do so, and she is hereby dismissed with prejudice as to her right or any person claiming in her stead to obtain judgment against Georgia Casualty Insurance Company, or damages from it relating to the claims at issue in the underlying tort lawsuit or in this case. After the “dismissal” of Harris, Valley Wood moved to transfer the declaratory judgment action to Muscogee County based upon the doctrine of “vanishing venue” and its lack of any ties to Haralson County. Following a hearing, the trial court issued the following order transferring the case to Muscogee County:
