First Nat. Bank v. Guerine

• Decision Date: 25 January 2002
• Docket Number: No. 90950.,90950.
• Citation: 764 N.E.2d 54,261 Ill.Dec. 763,198 Ill.2d 511
• Parties: FIRST NATIONAL BANK et al., Appellants, v. Richard GUERINE et al., Appellees.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

764 N.E.2d 54

198 Ill.2d 511

261 Ill.Dec. 763

FIRST NATIONAL BANK et al., Appellants, v. Richard GUERINE et al., Appellees.

No. 90950.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

January 25, 2002.

Peter J. Flowers, Craig S. Mielke, of Foote, Meyers, Mielke & Flowers, L.L.C., Geneva, and Herbolsheimer, Lannon, Henson, Duncan & Reagan, P.C., Ottawa (Michael T. Reagan, of counsel), for appellants.

Patrick R. Grady, of Wolf & Wolf, Ltd., Chicago, for appellee J.Q.Tex, Inc.

Justice FITZGERALD delivered the opinion of the court:

On the evening of September 26, 1999, Richard Guerine of Melrose Park, Cook County, was driving his Jeep Carryall on Somonauk Road in De Kalb County, pulling a speedboat on a trailer manufactured by J.Q. Tex, Inc. (J.Q. Tex), a Mishawaka, Indiana, corporation. The trailer broke away from Guerine's vehicle, crossed the road into oncoming traffic, and struck head-on a Hyundai Accent driven by Angel Malone of Batavia, Kane County. Angel was pronounced dead on arrival at Valley West Community Hospital in Sandwich, De Kalb County. Dr. L.W. Blum, a coroner's physician from Rockford, Winnebago County, performed an autopsy on Angel's body and reported her cause of death as head trauma due to blunt force injuries she suffered in the accident.

Detective Rogers, Sergeant Newby, and Deputy Sullivan of the De Kalb County sheriff's police investigated the accident scene. These officers interviewed Guerine, his passenger Ashley McKinney of Melrose Park, Cook County, and Randall Baker, an eyewitness from Sandwich, De Kalb County. The record does not indicate whether the officers spoke with Guerine's other passenger, April Tischer of Addison, Du Page County, or Angel's passengers, her two minor sons Christopher and Samuel. According to J.Q. Tex, Guerine's vehicle, boat, and trailer were stored in De Kalb County.

First National Bank, as executor of Angel's estate, and Christopher and Samuel, by their father and Angel's husband, Patrick Malone, filed a nine-count wrongful-death complaint in the Cook County circuit court against Guerine for negligent operation of his vehicle, and J.Q. Tex for defective design and manufacture of the boat trailer. The parties engaged in a limited amount of discovery, which revealed the location of potential witnesses. The plaintiffs, in their interrogatory answers, stated that Patrick lives in St. Charles, Kane County, with Christopher, Samuel, and Michelle Schumpert. The plaintiff's interrogatory answers also listed James and Bonnie Schumpert, Angel's parents, who live in Somonauk, De Kalb County, as persons with relevant information.

J.Q. Tex filed a forum non conveniens motion to transfer venue to De Kalb County. The trial court granted this motion, stating:

"It appears to me that all we have here is defendant and one witness in Cook County, an accident that clearly has no connection to Cook County, a boating accident.

There is nothing alleged here that there is [sic] numerous other cases pending against this J Q in Cook County, and it's an ongoing problem, et cetera, et cetera.

* * *

So I am basing my decision on that I think it strongly favors transfer.

* * *

* * * I'm deciding the case on the whole state of the record, but the accident also happened in De Kalb. The police officers are from De Kalb. The streets were in De Kalb. Let the De Kalb people hear their litigation, and their burden * * * of the jury consideration of the case. I think it's in conformance with Illinois law, the decision, and if you look at the books, I've done a lot of cases where I stuck my neck out for plaintiffs and the Appellate Court refused to allow it. So they made a believer out of me."

The trial court gave the plaintiffs a choice between transferring the case to De Kalb County, where the accident occurred, or Kane County, where the Malone family lives. The plaintiffs chose Kane County, but filed an interlocutory appeal under Supreme Court Rule 306(a)(2) (166 Ill.2d R. 306(a)(2)). The appellate court denied the plaintiffs' petition for leave to appeal, and the plaintiffs sought review from this court. We granted the plaintiffs' subsequent petition for leave to appeal. See 177 Ill.2d R. 315.

For the first time since Peile v. Skelgas, Inc., 163 Ill.2d 323, 206 Ill.Dec. 179, 645 N.E.2d 184 (1994), we are called upon to evaluate the continued vitality of the intrastate forum non conveniens doctrine. We reaffirm that the doctrine is Illinois law, but we conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in granting J.Q. Tex's motion to transfer venue. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

ANALYSIS

Section 2-101 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides: "every action must be commenced (1) in the county of residence of any defendant who is joined in good faith and with probable cause for the purpose of obtaining a judgment against him or her and not solely for the purpose of fixing venue in that county, or (2) in the county in which the transaction or some part thereof occurred out of which the cause of action arose." 735 ILCS 5/2-101 (West 2000). Here, the plaintiffs filed their complaint in Cook County, where Guerine resides. Before the trial court, J.Q. Tex did not dispute that venue is proper in Cook County. Rather, J.Q. Tex asserted, another venue is more appropriate than Cook County. In ruling on a forum non conveniens motion, a trial court enjoys considerable discretion. Peile, 163 Ill.2d at 336, 206 Ill.Dec. 179, 645 N.E.2d 184; see Fender v. St. Louis Southwestern Ry. Co., 49 Ill.2d 1, 4, 273 N.E.2d 353 (1971). Accordingly, the sole issue before us is whether the trial court abused its discretion in granting J.Q. Tex's motion to transfer venue.

Forum non conveniens is an equitable doctrine "founded in considerations of fundamental fairness and sensible and effective judicial administration" (Adkins v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R.R. Co., 54 Ill.2d 511, 514, 301 N.E.2d 729 (1973)), which allows a trial court to decline jurisdiction in the exceptional case where trial in another forum with proper jurisdiction and venue "would better serve the ends of justice" (Vinson v. Allstate, 144 Ill.2d 306, 310, 162 Ill.Dec. 43, 579 N.E.2d 857 (1991)). Although the forum non conveniens doctrine has a long history at common law, its general application crystalized following the United State Supreme Court's landmark decision in Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, 330 U.S. 501, 67 S.Ct. 839, 91 L.Ed. 1055 (1947). The Gulf Oil Court stated:

"The principle of forum non conveniens is simply that a court may resist imposition upon its jurisdiction even when jurisdiction is authorized by the letter of a general venue statute. * * *

* * *

Wisely, it has not been attempted to catalogue the circumstances which will justify or require either grant or denial of remedy. The doctrine leaves much to the discretion of the court to which plaintiff resorts, and experience has not shown a judicial tendency to renounce one's own jurisdiction so strong as to result in many abuses.

If the combination and weight of factors requisite to given results are difficult to forecast or state, those to be considered are not difficult to name. An interest to be considered, and the one likely to be most pressed, is the private interest of the litigant. Important considerations are the relative ease of access to sources of proof; availability of compulsory process for attendance of unwilling, and the cost of obtaining attendance of willing, witnesses; possibility of view of premises, if view would be appropriate to the action; and all other practical problems that make trial of a case easy, expeditious and inexpensive. There may also be questions as to the enforcibility of a judgment if one is obtained. The court will weigh relative advantages and obstacles to fair trial. It is often said that the plaintiff may not, by choice of an inconvenient forum, `vex,' `harass,' or `oppress' the defendant by inflicting upon him expense or trouble not necessary to his own right to pursue his remedy. But unless the balance is strongly in favor of the defendant, the plaintiff's choice of forum should rarely be disturbed.

Factors of public interest also have place in applying the doctrine. Administrative difficulties follow for courts when litigation is piled up in congested centers instead of being handled at its origin. Jury duty is a burden that ought not to be imposed upon the people of a community which has no relation to the ligation." (Emphasis added.) Gulf Oil, 330 U.S. at 507-08, 67 S.Ct. at 842-43, 91 L.Ed. at 1062.

Our cases subsequently have recast these factors. In Illinois, the private interest factors include (1) the convenience of the parties; (2) the relative ease of access to sources of testimonial, documentary, and real evidence; and (3) all other practical problems that make trial of a case easy, expeditious, and inexpensive— for example, the availability of compulsory process to secure attendance of unwilling witnesses, the cost to obtain attendance of willing witnesses, and the ability to view the premises (if appropriate). See Griffith v. Mitsubishi Aircraft International, Inc., 136 Ill.2d 101, 105-06, 143 Ill.Dec. 274, 554 N.E.2d 209 (1990); Bland v. Norfolk & Western Ry. Co., 116 Ill.2d 217, 224, 107 Ill.Dec. 236, 506 N.E.2d 1291 (1987); see also Adkins, 54 Ill.2d at 514, 301 N.E.2d 729 (these factors also may include the relative capacities of the two forums to provide a fair trial). The public interest factors include (1) the interest in deciding localized controversies locally; (2) the unfairness of imposing the expense of a trial and the burden of jury duty on residents of a county with little connection to the litigation; and (3) the administrative difficulties presented by adding further litigation to court dockets in already congested fora. See Griffith, 136 Ill.2d at 106, 143 Ill.Dec. 274, 554 N.E.2d 209. Court congestion is a relatively insignificant factor, especially where the record does not show the other forum...