Brown v. Cottrell

              1
NOTICE
Decision filed 04/24/07. The text of
this dec ision may be changed or
corrected prior to the filing of a
Petition for Rehea ring or the
disposition of the same.
NO. 5-04-0099
IN THE
APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS
FIFTH DISTRICT
___________________________________________________________________________
RAYMOND BROWN and GEORGIA BROWN, ) Appeal from the
) Circuit Court of
Plaintiffs-Appellees, ) Madison County.
)
v. ) No. 02-L-1569
)
COTTRELL, INC., and FORD MOTOR COMPANY, ))
Defendants-Appellants, ))
and ))
CASSENS & SONS, INC., CASSENS CORPORATION, )
ALBERT CASSENS, ALBERT CASSENS TRUST, )
GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, and Unknown )
Chain and Ratchet System Component Distributors/ )
Manufacturers, ) Honorable
) A. A. Matoesian,
Defendants. ) Judge, presiding.
___________________________________________________________________________
JUSTICE CHAPMAN delivered the opinion of the court:
This appeal involves interstate forum non conveniens motions in a product liability
suit against the manufacturer of an auto-hauling trailer. Raymond Brown, a truck driver
residing in Missouri, was injured while loading a car onto the trailer in Louisville, Kentucky.
Cottrell, Inc., the Georgia-based manufacturer of the trailer, filed a motion to dismiss the
lawsuit Brown and his wife filed in Illinois, arguing that either Kentucky or Missouri would
be a more convenient forum. Other defendants also moved to dismiss. The trial court denied
the motions, and this court affirmed. The Illinois Supreme Court vacated our earlier order
and directed us to reconsider our holding in light of its recent decisions in Langenhorst v.
Norfolk Southern Ry. Co., 219 Ill. 2d 430, 848 N.E.2d 927 (2006), and Gridley v. State Farm