§ 177 Corporate Principal Office County

• •The “proper county” is the county of the corporation’s principal office.
• •If the principal office isn’t in the state, or the corporation has no principal office, the proper county is Sacramento County.
• •This definition is used whenever the law refers to “proper county.”

A tech company’s headquarters are in San Diego, so the proper county for that company is San Diego County. A foreign company that only has a sales office in California but no main office in the state would have Sacramento County as its proper county.

You look at where the corporation’s main office is. If it’s in the state, use that county. If there’s no main office in the state, you automatically use Sacramento County.