Court Opinion

ID: 9542425
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:34:19.661058+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:07:54.264934
License: Public Domain

*241CIRILLO, President Judge Emeritus,
concurring and dissenting:
Although I agree with the majority’s decision to reverse the trial court’s order granting transfer of venue based upon the doctrine of forum non conveniens, I must respectfully dissent with the ultimate disposition of this case — namely, to remand the case and conduct trial in the original forum of Philadelphia County.
The holding in Cheeseman v. Lethal Exterminator, Inc., 549 Pa. 200, 701 A.2d 156 (1997), upon which the majority relies, is not entirely clear. The concluding line of the supreme court opinion states: “The Superior Court’s orders in Cheeseman and Forman affirming the trial courts’ transfer of venue in both matters are accordingly reversed and remanded to the trial court for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion.” Id. at 214, 701 A.2d at 162. While the supreme court has conclusively established a new transfer test for future petitioners, the court never prescribes the proper procedure upon remand of eases that have failed to meet the new transfer test.
While we may presume, after reviewing the Cheeseman dissent’s argument, that the majority does not wish to allow these unsuccessful petitioners a chance to meet the revised transfer test upon remand, I cannot make such a snap judgment. In keeping with equity and the promotion of justice, I believe that petitioners in transfer cases decided before the supreme court’s decision in Cheeseman (decided August 22, 1997) must have the chance to prove whether their cases meet the new transfer standard, i.e., whether failure to transfer the case would prove to be oppressive and vexatious. This procedure, however, should only be employed using the following safeguard: that the petitioners have already alleged, in their original petition, that failure to transfer the case would be oppressive and vexatious. Upon remand, the court should allow these “second-time petitioners” the right to resubmit a revised petition for transfer that includes detailed information on the record demonstrating that the plaintiffs chosen forum is oppressive and vexatious.
By employing this procedure, we will provide trial courts with a clearly defined rule to apply to the sea of recent cases in which the supreme court has granted allocatur and remanded to the original trial court for proceedings consistent with Cheeseman. See Noll v. Keagy, 549 Pa. 591, 702 A.2d 362 (1997) (petition for allowance of appeal granted; superior court order affirming trial court order transferring venue to another county reversed; case remanded to the original county forum for further proceedings consistent with Cheeseman opinion); Hofmann v. ACME Markets, 549 Pa. 582, 702 A.2d 357 (1997) (same); Godshall v. Blatt, 549 Pa. 583, 702 A.2d 357 (1997) (same); Leiser v. Atlantic Ref. & Mktg. Corp., 549 Pa. 584, 702 A.2d 358 (1997) (same); Green v. Whiteman, 549 Pa. 580, 702 A.2d 356 (1997) (same); Kolbe v. Gratch, 549 Pa. 588, 702 A.2d 360 (1997) (same); Minio v. Gratch, 549 Pa. 588, 702 A.2d 360 (1997) (same); Arnold v. Fraider, 549 Pa. 587, 702 A.2d 359 (1997) (same); Boarts v. Silver, 549 Pa. 589, 702 A.2d 360 (1997) (same); Ferst v. Fraider, 549 Pa. 590, 702 A.2d 361 (1997) (same); Evoli v. Rosenfeld, 549 Pa. 586, 702 A.2d 359 (1997) (same); Lamar v. Fraider, 549 Pa. 586, 702 A.2d 359 (1997) (same); Porcellini v. International Mgmt. Consultants, 549 Pa. 581, 702 A.2d 357 (1997) (same); Seidman v. Michitti, 549 Pa. 585, 702 A.2d 358 (1997) (same); Hunsicker v. R.D. Werner Co., 549 Pa. 544, 701 A.2d 1343 (1997) (same); Krausz v. Fine Hotels Corp., 549 Pa. 543, 701 A.2d 1342 (1997) (same); Techtmann v. Roy J. Howie & Robert Gray’s Sons, 548 Pa. 567, 699 A.2d 729 (1997) (same); Beard v. Rite-Aid of PA, Inc., 548 Pa. 564, 699 A.2d 728 (1997) (same); Rodriquez v. Lehman Equip. Sales, 548 Pa. 566, 699 A.2d 729 (1997) (same); Hansford v. Valley Forge Ctr. Assocs., 548 Pa. 570, 699 A.2d 730 (1997) (same); Hunt v. Philadelphia Electric Co., 548 Pa. 569, 699 A.2d 730 (1997) (same);.
In closing, I am compelled to reiterate the well-advised words contained within the Cheeseman dissent authored by the learned Madame Justice Newman:
[Cjonsidering that the Okkerse-Scola test was “ill-advised” and created “obvious confusion”, we can hardly fault the learned trial court for its decisions. In granting *242Appellees’ petitioners to transfer venue, the trial court relied primarily on its own private and public interest factors. Because only now have we clearly decided that a court may no longer weigh these factors in its Rule 1006(d)(1) analysis, fairness dictates that we should remand these cases to the trial court so that it may determine if Appellants’ choice of forum was oppressive and vexatious, which is the only remaining prong of the newly truncated Okkerse-Scola test.
Cheeseman, at 215-16, 701 A.2d 156