Venue -- practical considerations
By Order and Opinion dated November 16, 2006, Judge Stephen Linebaugh of the York County Court of Common Pleas, in the case of Sprague v. Long and Foster Real Estate, Inc., Civil Docket No. 2005-SU-3028-Y01, held in favor of Defendants, transferring this real estate dispute from York to Lancaster County, the county in which the real property is located. Plaintiff sued Defendants who include the home sellers, the home inspection company as well as Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc., which has offices located in both York and Lancaster Counties. This is a real estate disclosure action that also includes allegations of misrepresentation and claims under the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law. Plaintiff sought, amongst other things, rescission of the contract. Plaintiff argued that venue was appropriate in York County because Long & Foster has three offices located in York, although none of those particular offices were involved in the litigation. Certain Defendants filed preliminary objections on the basis of improper venue.
Judge Linebaugh based his decision to transfer venue upon Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1006(a)(2) which states that
Unlike the objective factors to determine proper venue under Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1006(a)-(c), forum non conveniens is another way in which a defendant may seek to transfer venue. Challenging venue under forum non conveniens is initiated by petitioning the court. The court then examines factors established by Cheeseman v. Lethal Exterminator, Inc., 549 Pa. 200, 701 A.2d 156 (1997) to determine, with detailed information on record, whether plaintiff's chosen forum is "oppressive or vexatious to defendant." It is a high burden to meet.
This is the most interesting part of the Sprague decision because forum non conveniens was not even raised by Defendants upon proper petition. The Court sua sponte ruled on the forum non conveniens issue before the issue was even before the Court. The Court, in this sense, took a practical approach to determine venue, essentially short cutting the time to transfer this case to the appropriate forum based upon the facts on the record. The Court noted that all of the parties resided in Lancaster County during the events in question, the real estate is located in Lancaster County and that, while Long & Foster has offices located in York County, none of those offices were involved in the transactions relevant to the case.
