The uphill battle defendants faced when trying to get their cases moved from a plaintiff’s chosen venue has been leveled somewhat thanks to the state Supreme Court’s decision last month in Bratic v. Rubendall, according to attorneys who spoke with the Law Weekly.
In August, the Supreme Court overturned the state Superior Court’s reversal of a trial court’s decision to transfer a case from Philadelphia to Dauphin County. Justice J. Michael Eakin, who wrote the high court’s opinion, reasoned that the intermediate court failed to give the trial court proper discretion under the 17-year-old standard for granting forum non conveniens motions outlined under Cheeseman v. Legal Exterminator.
