Johnson v. Nash
| Decision Date | 29 March 2019 |
| Docket Number | 1-18-1020,1-18-0895,Nos. 1-18-0840,s. 1-18-0840 |
| Citation | 430 Ill.Dec. 496,126 N.E.3d 584,2019 IL App (1st) 180840 |
| Parties | Michael JOHNSON and Robert Rosa, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Aaron NASH ; Lyons Limousine, LLC; Patrick Richard Lyons; Mary Lyons; Zenith Limousine, LLC; Edward Kraemer & Sons, Inc.; Kenny Construction Company; Kenny-Kraemer Joint Venture; Plote, Inc.; Plote Construction, Inc.; Roadsafe Traffic Systems, Inc.; Traffic Control & Protection, Inc.; GFS Construction, LLC ; Omega & Associates, Incorporated.; The Roderick Group, Inc., PC; Exp U.S. Services, Inc. ; Thomas Engineering Group, LLC; Alfred Benesch & Company; V3 Companies of Illinois, Ltd.; V3 Companies, Ltd.; BV3 Joint Venture; and Energy Absorption Systems, Inc., Defendants (Plote Construction, Inc., and Exp U.S. Services, Inc., Defendants-Appellants; Aaron Nash, Defendant-Appellee). Don Corning and Lois Corning, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Aaron Nash, Lyons Limousine, LLC, a Limited Liability Company; Patrick Richard Lyons; Zenith Limousine, LLC, a Limited Liability Company; Edward Kraemer & Sons, Inc., a Foreign Corporation; Kenny Construction Company, a Foreign Corporation, Kenny-kraemer Joint Venture; Plote, Inc., a Domestic Corporation; Plote Construction, Inc., a Domestic Corporation; and Roadsafe Traffic Systems, Inc., a Foreign Corporation, GFS Construction, LLC ; Omega & Associates, Incorporated.; The Roderick Group, Inc., PC; Exp U.S. Services, Inc. ; Thomas Engineering Group, LLC; Alfred Benesch & Company; V3 Companies of Illinois, Ltd.; V3 Companies, Ltd.; and BV3 Joint Venture, Defendants (Plote Construction, Inc., and Exp U.S. Services, Inc., Defendants-Appellants; Aaron Nash, Defendant-Appellee). Keven W. Schmidt, Individually and as Personal Representative of the Estate of Terri Schmidt, Deceased, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Aaron Nash ; Lyons Limousine, LLC; Patrick Richard Lyons; Mary Lyons; Zenith Limousine, LLC; Edward Kraemer & Sons, Inc.; Kenny Construction Company; Kenny-Kraemer Joint Venture; Plote, Inc.; Plote Construction, Inc.; Roadsafe Traffic Systems, Inc.; Traffic Control & Protection, Inc.; GFS Construction, LLC ; Omega & Associates Incorporated; The Roderick Group Inc., PC; Exp U.S. Services, Inc. ; Thomas Engineering Group, LLC; Alfred Benesch & Company; V3 Companies of Illinois, Ltd.; V3 Companies, Ltd.; and BV3 Joint Venure, Defendants (Plote Construction, Inc., and Exp U.S. Services, Inc., Defendants-Appellants; Aaron Nash, Defendant-Appellee). Aaron Nash, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Edward Kraemer & Sons, Inc.; Kenny Construction Company; Kenny-Kraemer Joint Venture; Plote, Inc.; Plote Construction, Inc.; Roadsafe Traffic Systems, Inc.; Traffic Control & Protection, Inc.; GFS Construction, LLC ; Omega & Associates Incorporated; The Roderick Group Inc., PC; Exp U.S. Services, Inc. ; Thomas Engineering Group, LLC; Alfred Benesch & Company; V3 Companies of Illinois, Ltd.; BV3 Joint Venture; John Thomas, Inc. d/b/a John Thomas Company ; Energy Absorption Systems, Inc.; Traffic Services, Inc.; Chastain & Associates, LLC ; Chastain/Thomas JV; Stanley Consultants, Inc.; AECOM Services of Illinois, Inc.; HNTB Corp.; Kevin Willing; Steve Menke; and William Schaefer, Defendants (Exp U.S. Services, Inc., and Plote Construction, Inc., Defendants-Appellants). |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
Melissa A. Murphy-Petros, of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP, of Chicago, for appellant Exp U.S. Services, Inc.
Julie A. Teuscher, of Cassiday Schade LLP, of Chicago, for other appellant.
Kevin E. O’Reilly, of Law Offices of Kevin E. O’Reilly, LLC, and Michael W. Rathsack, both of Chicago, for appellees.
¶ 1 Plaintiffs Michael Johnson, Robert Rosa, Don Corning, Lois Corning, and Keven Schmidt, as well as Terri Schmidt, deceased, were all passengers in a limousine on Interstate 90 (I-90), heading from their home in Wisconsin to O'Hare International Airport, when the limousine, driven by Aaron Nash, crashed into a construction site in Kane County. Of the six passengers, Terri Schmidt was killed, plaintiff Robert Rosa became a paraplegic, and the four other plaintiffs were injured (collectively, the plaintiff passengers).
¶ 2 The plaintiff passengers sued defendants-appellants Exp U.S. Services, Inc., and Plote Construction, Inc., as well as other defendants involved in the construction site, alleging that these defendants failed to post warning signs in the construction area (the construction defendants). In addition, plaintiffs sued Nash, the limousine driver; Lyons Limousine, LLC (Lyons), his employer; and Zenith Limousine, LLC (Zenith), a Wisconsin business with which Lyons was affiliated. The driver, Nash, also sued the construction defendants. The trial court consolidated all the lawsuits.
¶ 3 Out of all the many defendants in the consolidated actions, only two—Exp U.S. Services, Inc., and Plote Construction, Inc.—argue on this appeal that the trial court abused its discretion by denying a forum non conveniens motion to transfer the cases from Cook County, where plaintiffs filed their actions, to Kane County, where the accident occurred.1 These two defendants both have their principal offices in Cook County and, thus, are claiming that their home forum in not convenient for them. For the following reasons, we find no abuse of discretion by the trial court for denying their motion and affirm. See Langenhorst v. Norfolk Southern Ry. Co. , 219 Ill. 2d 430, 447-49, 302 Ill.Dec. 363, 848 N.E.2d 927 (2006) ().
¶ 5 In the case at bar, the plaintiff passengers, who were Wisconsin residents, hired a limousine from defendant Lyons, a Wisconsin business, to transport them on March 25, 2016, from Madison, Wisconsin, to O'Hare International Airport in Cook County. The driver, Nash, was a Lyons's employee and a Wisconsin resident. At 5:30 a.m., the limousine picked up the plaintiff passengers, and almost two hours later, at 7:12 a.m., the limousine collided with a barrier wall at a construction site on I-90, killing one passenger and injuring five others.
¶ 6 The accident report of the responding police officer indicates that the accident occurred after Nash failed to shift lanes to the right, as was compelled by the construction work. The report states that the limousine was driving in the left-hand lane of I-90 eastbound, in the city of Elgin, in Kane County, when all three eastbound lanes were required to shift right. Immediately after the lane shift, temporary concrete barrier walls were positioned along the left lane. The end of the concrete wall was protected by "a crash attenuator," which protects the public from the end of the wall. The report states that Nash told the officer that "the sun was extremely bright," that he had his sun visor lowered, and that he had his hand up to block the sun. Nash informed the officer that the bright sunlight blinded his vision and, as a result, he did not observe either the lane shift or the concrete barriers. As the rest of the lane shifted right, the limousine continued forward, struck the end of the wall with the crash attenuator, and flipped over on its roof.2
¶ 7 Nash testified at his deposition that, seconds before the accident, he observed a sign that said "stay in your lane" on his left side. Nash could not observe any signs on his right side because "semis and SUV's" were blocking his view and he was "in a very low limo." Although he observed the vehicle ahead of him shift to the right lane, he "thought it was merging or switching lanes." Nash did not shift because of the "stay in your lane" sign. Since he knew he was in a construction zone, he was "looking for signs constantly" and he did not observe any signs on his left side that indicated a curve in the road ahead. At the time of the collision, the limo was traveling at the speed of traffic, which was approximately 65 miles per hour, and Nash did not have the opportunity to hit the brakes prior to the collision.
¶ 8 After the accident, the plaintiff passengers filed a total of three actions in Cook County, alleging that defendants Nash, Lyons, and Zenith, were negligent with respect to the operation of the limousine, and the hiring and training of Nash. Their complaints further alleged that the construction defendants, including the two defendants-appellants in this appeal, were negligent in failing to post an adequate number of signs to warn drivers of the lane change. Nash, who was a defendant in the plaintiff passenger suits, also filed a complaint against the construction defendants that sought recovery for his own injuries and also alleged that the construction defendants were negligent in failing to post adequate signs. As we observed above, all four actions were consolidated for both discovery and trial.
¶ 9 Initially, 15 of the construction defendants3 filed or joined forum non conveniens motions to transfer the actions to Kane County. Of these 15 defendants, only 5 defendants filed or joined petitions for leave to appeal in the appellate court, which were granted pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 306(a)(2) (eff. Nov. 1, 2017).4 However, only two of the five defendants pursued the appeal by filing briefs with this court: Exp U.S. Services, Inc. (Exp) and Plote Constructions, Inc. (Plote).
¶ 10 With respect to these two defendants-appellants, plaintiffs allege in their complaints that Plote is an Illinois corporation with its principal office in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, which is in Cook County, and that Exp is a Delaware corporation.5
¶ 11 However, William Schaefer, Exp's resident engineer for the I-90 reconstruction project, testified at his deposition that Exp's main office is on Michigan Avenue, in Chicago, which is in Cook County, and that he has an office there. During...
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