Court Opinion

ID: 9707897
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 02:24:07.396528+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:39.596239
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE UNDERWOOD, dissenting: With some misgivings I had originally joined in the court’s opinion. The undenied representations now made in the petition for rehearing and responsive documents have, however, persuaded me that the court has erred in this unusual situation by permitting the Illinois proceedings to continue. I agree with the holding that filing of the Iowa complaint approximately one hour prior to the filing of the Illinois complant does ntit ipso facto require dismissal of the latter. That is not to say, however, that the priority in filing is totally irrelevant in evaluating the forum non conveniens posture of the Illinois litigation. I agree, too, that Swift’s action in asserting seriatim its bases for dismissal does not bespeak a serious effort to expedite the ultimate resolution of this case. Unfortunately, those observations do little to assist in solving the problem which arose when this court held the circuit court erred in believing itself without discretion to deny Swift’s section 48(1)(c) motion, and then, rather than remanding to that court for further hearings, proceeded to hold that the Illinois action could be maintained. As a consequence of deciding the matter here without remandment, no new evidence was taken as to current developments. Thus, this court’s original opinion was predicated upon a record reflecting the status of the litigation in 1977 when Swift’s original forum non conveniens motion to dismiss had been denied. No additional evidence had been admitted at the trial court hearing on Swift’s later section 48(1)(c) motion, since the trial court felt the priority of the filing of the Iowa action compelled dismissal of Staley’s Illinois complaint. We are now, for the first time, informed by the petition for rehearing and response thereto of substantial changes which have occurred in the status of the Iowa proceedings since the dismissal of the Illinois litigation by the Macon County circuit court from which this appeal was taken. This court’s opinion relied to a significant extent upon Staley’s original argument that an Illinois resident corporation should not be compelled to seek the relief it desired by way of a counterclaim in the Iowa action initiated by Swift. We are now informed that, some 6 days following the oral argument of this case before us, Staley filed in the Iowa litigation a counterclaim presenting virtually the identical claims made in its Illinois complaint; in addition, that counterclaim contains a second count, not present in the Illinois complaint, alleging a breach of contract claim in connection with Swift’s sale of an Indiana soybean-processing plant to Staley under the same agreement governing sale of the Des Moines plant. As a result of the filing by Staley of its Iowa counterclaim, Swift has now filed in the Iowa proceedings indemnity actions against certain corporate contractors who are allegedly liable to Swift for the plant defects complained of by Staley in its counterclaim against Swift. Two of the defendants in the indemnity actions are Ohio corporations over which there is apparently no basis for acquiring jurisdiction in Illinois. Iowa law permits a simultaneous trial of Swift’s complaint, Staley’s counterclaim and the indemnity actions. Also relevant for consideration is the fact that on June 12, 1980, Staley’s motion to dismiss the Iowa proceedings on forum non conveniens grounds was denied by the Iowa district court in an order which stated in part: “ [T] his is an Iowa-based construction case in which the bulk of witnesses, documents, and the structures (comprising a soybean processing plant) are located in the Des Moines area.” The court further found: “Although Staley asserts that some of its high-level executives are located in Decatur, Illinois, the key Staley operating and engineering personnel with responsibility for the operation of the Des Moines plant are located in Iowa (e.g., H. S. Chittick, Staley’s former plant superintendent, Mr. R. Rypkema, Staley’s former plant manager, Mr. E. D. McConnell, Staley’s general foreman, Mr. R. L. Bucklin and Mr. L. A. Williams, Jr., Staley’s general operating foremen). Moreover, the contractor primarily responsible for construction of the plant, A. N. Neumann & Brothers, Inc., is incorporated in Iowa and located in Des Moines; Neumann’s personnel reside in Iowa; almost all of the subcontractors who worked on the construction of the plant are incorporated and located in Iowa; and almost all of their personnel reside in Iowa. All of these witnesses have critical, firsthand knowledge of the construction and operation of the plant. Also significant is the fact that Staley’s documents are kept at the Des Moines plant. Tens of thousands of documents have already been produced in this case at the Des Moines plant.” Additionally, it is represented by Swift and not denied by Staley that, since the date of oral argument before us, Staley has produced at the Des Moines plant more than half a million documents in response to discovery requests, and that these documents reveal that some 20 Staley supervisory personnel conducted an investigation of operations at the soybean-processing plant in Des Moines in early 1979 and will be important witnesses at trial. These witnesses, it is said, are all located in Des Moines. The Iowa court’s denial of Staley’s motion to dismiss on forum non conveniens grounds was obviously based on a consideration of far more nearly current facts than was this court’s opinion. Of course this court can ignore these new developments and our earlier holdings and insist that an Illinois resident corporation is entitled to assert its rights in the courts of our State regardless of the extraordinary inconvenience, cost and inefficiency involved in doing so. But, to me, that course smacks of provincialism. Pursuing that avenue will result in simultaneous litigation in the district court of Iowa and the circuit court of Illinois of what is essentially the same cause of action. Substantial duplication of discovery, depositions, lawyers’ fees, costs and testimony will occur. In all likelihood it will be necessary that Illinois witnesses travel to Iowa and Iowa witnesses to Illinois. The added expense and inconvenience to the parties will obviously be substantial. But, of at least equal importance is the impact of these proceedings upon our judicial system. This is highly complex multiparty litigation involving many millions of dollars. Its resolution will require large amounts of lawyer, witness and judicial time and effort. To unnecessarily duplicate that burden and impose it upon both the Iowa and Illinois judicial systems is, in my judgment, both unnecessary and undesirable. This is particularly so when it is remembered that there is included in the Iowa proceedings the indemnity actions against the Ohio contractors, jurisdiction over whom cannot even be obtained in Illinois. It is apparent that only in the Iowa court can all of the claims be completely resolved. The majority dismisses this court’s earlier decision in Skolnick v. Martin (1964), 32 Ill. 2d 55, as not in point because the litigation there had been filed in both Federal and State courts by the same plaintiff and therefore involved an element of vexation not present here. Skolnick, however, did not speak in terms of “vexation.” After first indicating it was sufficient to come within section 48(1)(c) that both suits arose from the same “cause” rather than involving the same “cause of action” this court went on to state: “The statute here authorizes dismissal where another action is pending without distinguishing between actions depending in another jurisdiction. Had it been intended to restrict the authority to dismiss to situations where the other cause of action was pending in our own jurisdiction, it would have been a simple matter to do so. Furthermore, the Civil Practice Act was designed to eliminate the formalized rules of common-law pleading and to provide a procedure whereby substantive rights could be determined with a minimum of delay, technicality and expense. (Scott v. Freeport Motor Casualty Co. 392 Ill. 332.) Indeed, it is the express direction of section 4 that the act shall be liberally construed to the end that controversies may be speedily and finally determined. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1961, chap. 110, par. 4.) Certainly the elimination of repetitious suits and the relief of courts and litigants alike from the unnecessary burden of trying the .same issues pending in another action are consistent with the purpose and spirit of the Civil Practice Act, and it can hardly be said that actions for the same cause filed in the Federal courts or those of our sister States are less repetitious or burdensome than those filed within our own jurisdiction.” (Emphasis added.) (32 Ill. 2d 55, 59-60.) In my judgment the theme of Skolnick is difficult to reconcile with the result in this case. This court’s concern for the efficient and orderly administration of justice and fairness to the litigants has been expressed in numerous other instances. (Horn v. Rincker (1981), 84 Ill. 2d 139; People ex rel. Compagnie Nationale Air France v. Giliberto (1978), 74 Ill. 2d 90; Adkins v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R.R. Co. (1973), 54 Ill. 2d 51; People ex rel. Phillips Petroleum v. Gitchoff (1976), 65 Ill. 2d 249; People ex rel. Lehman v. Lehman (1966), 34 Ill. 2d 286.) If dismissal under section 48(1)(c) is to be a discretionary matter governed largely by forum non conveniens considerations, a sound exercise of that discretion would dictate a stay or dismissal of the Illinois litigation. Reassessing the validity of our original opinion in light of the apparently changed circumstances which were not previously known persuades me that the circuit court’s dismissal of the Illinois action should be sustained. At the very least it would seem to me our opinion should be vacated and the cause remanded for a hearing at which evidence of these changed circumstances could be presented. If that evidence established that the present circumstances are as represented in the pleadings pertaining to rehearing, the Illinois litigation should be dismissed. MR. JUSTICE MORAN, joins in this dissent.