Forum Non Conveniens
In the case of Bruce v. Atadero, the estate of Michael Bruce filed wrongful death and survival claims against Dr. Arsenio Atadero and Sherman Hospital alleging that they failed to diagnose Mr. Bruce's deep-vein thrombosis which resulted in his death in March of 2004 while he was a patient at Sherman Hospital in McHenry County www.shermanhealth.com. Bruce was a resident of Kane County and Dr. Atadero was a resident of, and maintained an office in, McHenry County.
The plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the case after it had been pending in McHenry County for almost 2 years. It was refiled in Cook County and the defendants moved to transfer the case back to McHenry County under the doctrine of forum non conveniens. Judge Elizabeth Budzinski denied the motion and defendants appealed. In their appeal defendants argued that plaintiff's choice of Cook County was entitled to less deference because the plaintiff did not reside there, the accident occurred in McHenry and the public and private interest factors favored the transfer to McHenry. They also argued that the trial court gave undue weight to the fact that Sherman Hospital operates two physical therapy facilities in Cook County and therefore was a resident of Cook County.
The Appellate Court agreed. "...all of the treatment on which plaintiff's complaint is based occurred at Sherman Hospital's facility in McHenry County and at Dr. Atadero's office in McHenry County." It further explained that the private interest factors clearly weighed in favor of the defendants because most of the potential witnesses were in McHenry County. In addition, the public interest factors favored McHenry as the county had a public interest in the medical care provided at one of its facilities and McHenry County's court docket is much less congested than Cook County. As such the trial court was directed to transfer the case to McHenry County
