Court Opinion

ID: 9713903
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:25:47.524506+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:21.487760
License: Public Domain

MR. CHIEF JUSTICE GOLDENHERSH, dissenting: I dissent. I opposed the granting of leave to file the original petition and am of the opinion that it should now be dismissed. With admirable candor the majority concedes that there is no basis to be found in the venue statutes for the order and that the doctrine of forum non conveniens has never been applied to effect transfer of a cause within the State. Nevertheless, without supporting authority it has issued a supervisory order consolidating these cases in a county selected by one of the litigants over the objections of the others. Multiple actions arising out of the same transaction are not new in the annals of this State. The venue provisions and the absence of a provision for mandatory counterclaims in the Civil Practice Act clearly indicate that such suits are not only permissible but are to be expected. Lawyers have ordinarily been able to determine by agreement an orderly procedure for the taking of depositions without repetitive examinations of the witnesses, and there is no reason to believe that absent this order they would not have managed to do so in this case. Furthermore, this court has seen fit to leave to the discretion of the circuit courts the determination of the qualifications of expert witnesses, the granting of continuances, and, more importantly, the question of the severity of a sentence imposed as a criminal sanction. I fail to see why we cannot leave to that same judicial discretion the determination of whether orders to expedite or stay the pending proceedings may be required in order to effect a just result. It is clear from the opinion that the circuit courts are without power to effect the kind of transfer and consolidation effected by this order. The end result of this opinion is that this court will of necessity be required to entertain original actions with wholly inadequate records and make the determination as to which county is to be the place of trial. With the numbers and types of cases pending before us, I respectfully submit this court is far too busy to spend its time refereeing races to the courthouse.