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permits an action to be brought in other counties based on the
defendant's residence or place of business, and if the defendant
residence and business are outside Illinois, then the action can
be brought in any Illinois county. 710 ILCS 5/17 (West 2006).
Thus, venue under Uniform Arbitration Act is not always limited
to one county.
Citing People v. One Residence Located at 1403 East
Parham Street, 251 Ill. App. 3d 198, 202-03, 621 N.E.2d 1026,
1030 (1993), defendant also asserts the general venue provision
should control in this situation because it was the statute that
was last amended. We again disagree. The general venue provi-sion
was the last amended provision with regard to the specific
venue provision of the Uniform Arbitration Act as well, since
that provision has not been amended since its creation in 1961
(1961 Ill. Laws 3844, 3848-49 (§17) (effective August 24, 1961)).
Moreover, as stated earlier, the drafting of the Procedure Code
incorporated many separate venue provisions, but not all of them.
1 C. Nichols, Illinois Civil Practice §9.4, at 356 (2001). Thus,
an implicit repeal of the specific venue provision is inconsis-tent
with the formation of the Procedure Code.
Accordingly, we find the specific venue provision of
section 11 of the Oil Act (225 ILCS 725/11 (West 2006)) is the
applicable venue provision in this matter, and thus Sangamon
County is a proper venue.
