Court Opinion

ID: 9717142
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:59:08.278775+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:51.601476
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE JONES, dissenting: I respectfully dissent. Neither the events giving rise to this case, the parties, the witnesses nor the medical records (except for those of two “treating physicians” in Madison County) have any connection whatsoever with Madison County. The import of the majority’s decision is to make Madison County a litigation center for FELA, Jones Act (46 U.S.C. sec. 688 et seq. (1982)) and any other tort case arising in Illinois where venue may be fixed there. This is an injustice to the taxpayers, jurors, judges and other court personnel of Madison County, and to Madison County litigants who must await trial of their cases while non-Madison County litigation displaces their own in the case-clogged Madison County circuit court. (See Satkowiak v. Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co. (1985), 106 Ill. 2d 224, 478 N.E.2d 370, an interstate forum non conveniens case, but whose precepts are nonetheless, under Torres v. Walsh (1983), 98 Ill. 2d 338, 456 N.E.2d 601, applicable to intrastate forum non conveniens cases.) The facts of this case place it on all fours with Walker v. Iowa Marine Repair Corp. (1985), 132 Ill. App. 3d 621, 477 N.E.2d 1335. In that case, the plaintiff was injured on a barge tow near Alton. Plaintiff was a resident of Knox County and filed his suit for damages in Cook County. The defendant was domiciled in Grundy County, whose county seat, Morris, is just 63 miles from Chicago. Venue was properly fixed in Cook County when defendant filed its answer prior to filing its motion to transfer based upon forum non conveniens. Other proper venues were Grundy and Madison Counties. The court in Walker noted that “this litigation has absolutely no connection with Cook County.” (132 Ill. App. 3d 621, 630, 477 N.E.2d 1335, 1341.) It analyzed the six factors for consideration prescribed by the Torres case, and set forth in the majority opinion, and found nothing that favored the Cook County forum other than the fact that plaintiff’s attorney had his office there. The court in Walker reversed the trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion to transfer based on forum non conveniens. This case cannot be distinguished in any relevant particular from the Walker case. Distilled to its essence, the majority bases its decision upon the fact that it is only 100 miles from Decatur to Edwards-ville. This is insufficient to justify denial of the defendant’s motion for transfer. Another recent case of the appellate court that indicates that the majority opinion here is contrary to Torres v. Walsh (1983), 98 Ill. 2d 338, 456 N.E.2d 601, is Boston v. Rockford Memorial Hospital (1986), 140 Ill. App. 3d 969. In that medical malpractice case the plaintiffs had been treated in a hospital and by doctors located in Winnebago County. Suit was filed in Cook County where venue was proper because some defendants to the case were residents in or conducted business there. The appellate court reversed the trial court’s denial of defendants’ motion to transfer for forum non conveniens, holding that a Cook County venue was contrary to the approach of the Torres case and the current application of the doctrine. The county seats of Winnebago and Cook Counties are just 83 miles distant from each other. I would follow Torres v. Walsh (1983), 98 Ill. 2d 338, 456 N.E.2d 601, Walker v. Iowa Marine Repair Corp. (1985), 132 Ill. App. 3d 621, 477 N.E.2d 1335, Stakowiak v. Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co. (1985), 106 Ill. 2d 224, 478 N.E.2d 370, and Boston v. Rockford Memorial Hospital (1986), 140 Ill. App. 3d 969, and reverse.