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Czarnecki v. Uno-Ven Co.

Case Date: 05/27/2003
Court: 1st District Appellate
Docket No: 1-02-0020 Rel

FIRST DIVISION
May 27, 2003



No. 1-02-0020

   

TIMOTHY D. CZARNECKI, 

                                  Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

UNO-VEN COMPANY, a/k/a Union Oil
Company of California; VERNON L.
GOEDECKE, INC.; FOSTER WHEELER
CONSTRUCTORS, INC.; AND INTERSTATE
SCAFFOLDING, INC.;

                                   Defendants-Appellants.

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) 		Appeal from the
Circuit Court of
Cook County.



No. 01 L 7258



Honorable
Diane J. Larsen,
Judge Presiding.


JUSTICE O'MALLEY delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendants Uno-Ven Co. (Uno-Ven), Foster WheelerConstructors, Inc. (Foster-Wheeler), Interstate Scaffolding, Inc.(Interstate), and Vernon L. Goedecke, Inc. (Goedecke), appealfrom an order of the circuit court denying their motions totransfer this case to Will County based on forum non conveniens.(1) On appeal, defendants contend that the trial court's denial oftheir motions to transfer was an abuse of discretion because: (1)the balancing of public interest factors and private interestfactors strongly favors transfer to Will County; (2) plaintiffTimothy Czarnecki's decision to file his cause of action in CookCounty should be granted less deference because his place ofresidence and the situs of his injury are in Will County; and (3)deference to plaintiff's choice of venue is diminished further bythe fact that plaintiff originally filed his cause of action inWill County but voluntarily dismissed the case on the eve oftrial and later refiled in Cook County. For the followingreasons, we reverse the order of the trial court.

BACKGROUND

In Will County in 1996, plaintiff filed his originalpersonal injury action against defendants and eventually filedhis amended complaint on August 19, 1998. It alleged that onAugust 27, 1994, plaintiff suffered a wrist injury while workingon a heat exchanger at the Uno-Ven refinery located in WillCounty. The complaint named Uno-Ven, Goedecke (the scaffoldingcontractor), Interstate (the scaffolding contractor) and Foster-Wheeler (the general contractor) as defendants. Plaintiff'semployer at the time of the accident was Brooks Erection &Construction Co. (Brooks). Plaintiff's eight-count complaintfurther alleged that his injuries were proximately caused by eachdefendant's negligence and willful violation of the StructuralWork Act (740 ILCS 150/0.01 through 9 (West 1994)(repealed byPub. Act 89-2,