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Khan v. Enterprise Rent-A-Car-Co.12/30/2004
h, which, as stated above, is not at the heart of the issue in this negligence action, and, accordingly, we find that plaintiffs' offer of nonspecified potential Cook County witnesses is not a factor that favors Cook County in the forum non conveniens analysis. See Allee, 349 Ill. App. 3d at 606-07 (where the plaintiffs identified four Cook County witnesses, but failed to include what facts those witnesses would testify to either in general or in any detail, and it was logical to assume that those witnesses would testify as to conduct relating to the co-defendant's conduct, rather than to the defendant's conduct, that factor did not favor Cook County in the forum non conveniens analysis).
We lastly note that, with respect to considering the private interest factors applicable in the instant case, plaintiffs' reliance on Prouty v. Advocate Health and Hospitals Corp., 348 Ill. App. 3d 490, 810 N.E.2d 173 (2004), Chung v. Advocate Health Care, 336 Ill. App. 3d 789, 784 N.E.2d 323 (2002), Smith v. Silver Cross Hospital, 312 Ill. App. 3d 210, 726 N.E.2d 697 (2000), and Bradbury, in support of their contention that "non-elective medical care and/or a wrongful death in the county are significant ties to the county in a forum non conveniens analysis," is misplaced. All of the above cases cited by plaintiffs involved actions for medical malpractice or medical negligence, in which the testimonies of the subsequent doctors treating the plaintiffs were extensive and necessary to establish that the defendant doctors were negligent in their prior care of the plaintiffs. Such extensive testimony of Lutheran's personnel will not be necessary to establish the negligence of Lopez in driving her vehicle. Additionally, each of the cases relied upon by plaintiffs contained additional factors that favored the plaintiff's chosen forum which are not present in the instant case. See, e.g., Prouty, 348 Ill. App. 3d at 496 (the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion to transfer venue to Lake County where, in a medical malpractice action, and although the alleged malpractice occurred in Lake County, the witnesses were dispersed fairly among Lake County and the chosen forum and the patient stayed in the pediatric intensive care unit in the chosen forum for two weeks after the alleged malpractice (emphasis added)); Bradbury, 273 Ill. App. 3d at 560 (the motion to transfer venue was properly denied in a wrongful death action against the defendants based on medical negligence where the plaintiff submitted an affidavit in which she averred that "13 named doctors and nurses [from the chosen forum] played significant roles in the decedent's care and should be considered likely trial witnesses" (emphasis added)). Thus, the cases relied upon by plaintiffs are distinguishable. Accordingly, we find that the weight of the private interest factors strongly favor transferring this case to DuPage County.
With respect to the public interest factors, the congestion of the Cook County courts, although not entitled to substantial weight, is a great concern. The 2001 statistics from the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, of which we may take judicial notice (Dawdy, 207 Ill. 2d at 181), showed that there were 535 jury verdicts for over $50,000 in Cook County, averaging 38.1 months from filing to verdict. In comparison, DuPage County had only 49 such cases, averaging only 28.2 months from filing to verdict. Thus, there is an appreciable difference in congestion between the two counties, and DuPage County would resolve plaintiffs' case more quickly.
With respect to local interest, we reject plaintiffs' argument that the fact that Enterprise does business in Cook County favors plaintiffs' choice of foru
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