 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Langenhorst v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co.12/15/2004
y disposed of 13,740 civil cases."
In sum, Norfolk Southern and its employees take the position that convenience factors strongly favor a venue transfer to Clinton County, that practically everything weighs in favor of the transfer, and that no reasonable person would take the view adopted by Judge Cueto. They argue, with a slight touch of disdain:
"In spite of laintiff's choice of forum, duly constituted state courts exist in Clinton County, Illinois . These courts are more efficient, proper[,] and convenient fora for the trial of this case. The forum which plaintiff has chosen for the institution of this lawsuit is in fact convenient to no one with the exception of plaintiff's counsel."
While it is true that duly constituted state courts exist in Clinton County, Illinois , we are not so certain that they offer a more efficient forum within which to litigate this case. For that matter, we are not all that confident that they offer more convenience to the parties. However, a closer look at the circumstances of this case does find one thing with absolute certainty. Widow Langenhorst's lawyer is not the only person who would find it more convenient to try this case in St. Clair County.
We recognize that convenience to the litigants' lawyers is not a significant factor. Dawdy, 207 Ill. 2d at 179, 797 N.E.2d at 697. The casual treatment of this concern originated in cases of interstate transfer, where it was generally understood that other comparable counsel, closer to the transfer forum, would be hired to complete the litigation.
Regardless, this factor warrants some mention here. There are no law firms comparable to Thompson Coburn LLP with offices in the rural community of Carlyle, Illinois . Most firms skilled in championing the defense of railroad cases in this region have offices in the metro-east area of Illinois or in St. Louis, Missouri. Thompson Coburn LLP has offices in both places. In fact, its Belleville office is probably the closest office of its kind, when it comes to finding a skilled railroad defense attorney to litigate in Clinton County. In all likelihood, a transfer to Clinton County will mean a lengthy daily commute from Belleville to Carlyle for both Kurt Reitz and Tom Keefe.
In Justice Fitzgerald's shrinking world of computers, there are programs tooled and ready to measure the travel distance to various Illinois fora and generate an estimated travel time based upon the kind of roads and speed limits en route. Carlyle is 37.56 miles from Belleville. The computer-generated estimated time of travel on the quickest travel route is 55 minutes. In all likelihood, the defendants will have to pay their lawyers to drive a car two hours a day if the case is transferred to Clinton County. Moreover, instead of being only blocks away from a major Thompson Coburn LLP office housing support services during the trial, other, less convenient arrangements for staff support will have to be made. This does not seem expeditious or convenient.
The only people connected to this litigation who must spend every day of the trial in the courtroom where this case is litigated are the parties' lawyers. If convenience is the doctrine's touchstone, a venue that offers convenience to the litigants' lawyers is a venue that addresses a practical problem that makes a trial easy, expeditious, and less expensive. A courtroom blocks away from defense counsel's main office, his professional assistants, and his staff of associates is a courtroom that tends to make trial easier, more expeditious, and less expensive for that attorney's client. In continuing our analysis, we note one common thread in Dawdy and Guerine. When the Illinois Supreme Court
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Illinois Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|