delivered the opinion of the court:
This рersonal injury action was filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County. Defendants moved to dismiss plaintiffs’ complaint on the grounds of forum non conveniens. The court denied this motion but certified its ruling under Supreme Court Rule 308 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 110A, par. 308), and we granted defendants’ application for review. We affirm.
On March 26, 1978, plaintiffs were injured when a truck driven by defendant Alan Starck struck the car in which they were riding. The collision occurrеd in Walworth County, Wisconsin, about one mile north of the Illinois State line, while plaintiffs were en route from Illinois to their new home in Wisconsin. Plaintiffs Ronald, Dale, and Lela Grant were riding in a car driven by Mary Grant, Ronald’s wife, who is not a party to this action. Defendants Starck and Lange were driving tractor trailers for defendant Chippewa Motor Freight, Inc. Starck’s vehicle struck the plaintiffs’ automobile, allegedly when Mary Grant turned left in front of Starck’s vehicle as he attempted to pass her car at an intersection.
Plaintiffs initially filed suit in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against Starck and Chippewa, alleging jurisdiction on the basis of the parties’ diversity of citizenship. 1 Plaintiffs dismissed this Federal suit, however, and refiled in the Cook County Circuit Court on June 6,1979. Defendants filed a motion to dismiss on the grounds of forum non conveniens and requеsted the court to declare Wisconsin law applicable. In its final order of June 26,1980, the trial court denied the motion to dismiss but did not rule on the applicability of Wisconsin law.
Opinion
Although defendants contend that the forum non conveniens doctrine “mandates” dismissal of plaintiffs’ lawsuit, the issue may be more accurately framed as whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying defendants’ motion. Under this doctrine a сourt may decline jurisdiction of a case if there is another forum that is more convenient to the parties and more conducive to judicial efficiency. (E.g., People ex rel. Compagnie Nationale Air France v. Giliberto (1978),
Before applying these principles to the facts of this case we must сonsider plaintiffs’ contention that defendants should be estopped from raising the forum non conveniens doctrine. Plaintiffs contend that they voluntarily dismissed the Federal action pursuant to an “understanding” with defense counsel that the action would be refiled in the Cook County Circuit Court. Plaintiffs argue that defendants accordingly should be estopped from raising the forum non conveniens doctrine. They further argue that defendants’ challenge is essentially a motion to transfer venue. Since defendants filed their motion to dismiss after filing a general appearance and answer, plaintiffs argue that they waived their objection under section 8(2) of the Civil Practice Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 110, par. 8(2)), which states that “[a]ll objections of improper venue are waived * * * unless a motion to transfer ° ° ° is made * * * on or before thе date upon which [defendant] is required to appear * e
We find that defendants have not waived their right to raise the doctrine. The only memorandum concerning the alleged agreement that is contained in the record states:
“Plaintiffs’ counsel, after an agreement with defendants’ counsel, took a voluntary dismissal and refiled in the Circuit Court. A part of that agreement was that in the Circuit Court the only issue tо be raised concerning jurisdiction was the question of Transport Insurance Company as a party defendant.”
A motion to dismiss on the basis of forum non conveniens assumes that all courts concerned have jurisdiction and therefore is not truly a challenge to a court’s authority to adjudicate the litigation. Thus, we do not interpret the parties’ “agreement” as a relinquishment of defendants’ prerogаtive to raise the forum non conveniens doctrine. Furthermore, we disagree with plaintiffs’ contention that the defense motion to dismiss is analogous to an objection to venue which defendants consequently waived by failing to object before they answered the complaint. We rejected a similar argument in McDonald’s Corp. v. Smargon (1975),
Defendants contend that the relevant connections between this litigation and the two States involved strongly favor Wisconsin as the forum. First, they argue that they want to join Mary Grant, driver of plaintiff’s car, as a third-party defendant, but are barred from doing so because she is a Wisconsin resident and the Illinois court cannot obtain jurisdiction over her. As a rеsult, they would be forced to bring a second suit against her in Wisconsin, resulting in “piecemeal” litigation. They further argue that since the accident occurred in Wisconsin, sources of proof are more accessible there; the Illinois court lacks power to compel the attendance of important witnesses who reside in Wisconsin; two of the treating physicians will be burdened by extra time and expenses in travelling to Chicago to testify; an Illinois jury would be precluded from viewing the accident scene; the congested Cook County docket would cause substantially greater delays in the trial than would result from trying the case in Walworth County; the accident situs has the greater interest in deciding the controversy; and the Wisconsin court is more suited to apply its own comparative negligence law than is thе Illinois court, if choice of law principles indicate that Wisconsin law will govern the action.
Plaintiffs counter these factors by enumerating others which would favor Cook County as the proper forum, e.g., the two Chippewa drivers reside in Cook County and are employed at the Chicago terminal; the tractor trailers that Starck and Lange were driving at the time of the collision had been serviced, inspected, loaded, weighed and dispatched from Chicago; the records involving the trucks and the drivers, which are relevant to plaintiffs’ theory of defendants’ negligence, exist in Chicago and are thus more convenient to produce in Cook County Circuit Court; Chippewa’s safety director is headquartered in Chicago and would be more conveniently produced for trial in Cook County than Walworth County; all directions concerning the defendant drivers’ trucking route emanated from Chicago; a citizen’s band radio conversation between the two drivers, allegedly relating to Starck’s decision to pass the Grant vehicle, had commenced in Illinois; at the time of the occurrence, plaintiff Ronald Grant was a registered Illinois voter and driver, who was still in the process of moving his home to Wisconsin; and with the exception of the emergency room treatment, the plaintiffs’ medical treatment occurred in Illinois, and therefore most of the medical witnesses and records are located in Illinois.
As the above recital indicates, both forums have some ties to the litigation. It was therefore properly within the trial court’s discretion to determine which forum is the more convenient choice. Reviewing courts have reversed orders denying motions to dismiss for forum non conveniens only when the connection between the litigation and plaintiff’s chosen forum is so slight as to be virtually nonexistent. Thus, in Adkins v. Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific R.R. Co. (1973),
In contrast to those cases, we believe the allegations in the pending case establish the еxistence of substantial, relevant connections between Illinois and the cause of action. It may be, as defendants assert, that not every connection plaintiffs list is “relevant.” For example, that Ronald Grant held an Illinois driver’s license and voter’s card at the time of the collision does not strengthen the claim that the Illinois forum is more convenient to him; the record shows that he currently lives in Tennеssee. We must determine, therefore, which considerations are the most closely related to the fairness and convenience of the respective forums.
Defendants first argue that because they cannot join Mary Grant as a third-party defendant in Illinois they will be forced to file a separate suit in Wisconsin to fully adjudicate Chippewa’s potential claim against her. Such “piecemeal” litigation, they argue, wastes time and money. They cite Mergenthaler Linotype Co. v. Leonard Storch Enterprises, Inc. (1978),
A similar contention was rejected in Stone Container Corp. v. Industrial Risk Insurers (1980),
We agree with the reasoning of Stone Container. Mary Grant’s role in the occurrence can be explored in the discovery process and at trial. Her actual presence in the Illinois courtroom is not essential to the adjudication of plaintiffs’ cause of action. We note, moreover, that her attorney has agreed to cooperate with defense attorneys’ efforts to obtain her deposition. It does not appear, therefore, that her absence from the trial will prejudice defendants. The parties are not precluded from arguing her role in the occurrence, as driver of plaintiffs’ vehicle, and the jury will be instructed as to the applicable law. Finally, if defendants are held liable to рlaintiffs, they may then pursue their claim for contribution from Mary Grant, if necessary. We conclude that the Illinois court can fully adjudicate plaintiffs’ cause of action against defendants and that the inability of defendants to join Mary Grant as a third-party defendant does not deprive them of a fair trial.
Consonant with this reasoning, we also reject defendants’ argument that Wisconsin is. the superior forum becausе the Wisconsin deputy sheriffs who investigated the occurrence cannot be compelled to testify in Illinois. Again, these witnesses may be deposed if they are not willing to testify in the Cook County courtroom. We note that this is not a case in which none of the witnesses reside in the forum State, as was true in Giseburt. In contrast, plaintiffs argue that much — if not most — of the necessary evidence and witnesses are located in Illinois, including medical records and essentially all of the information relating to defendants’ trucking operation. The latter documents include maintenance and loading records and the physical examinations of the defendant drivers. With the bulk of the documentary evidence in Illinois, as well as the presence of potential witnesses in this State, we cannot agree that Wisconsin is the more сonvenient forum merely because the investigating officers reside there.
Defendants further argue that an Illinois jury is necessarily precluded from viewing the scene of the occurrence. Illinois courts have acknowledged that in some cases a view of the scene may be helpful (Adkins; Giseburt; cf. Stone Container), but no case has held that this factor is determinative. Indeed, in many cases, photogrаphs or drawings may adequately illustrate the situs. (Stone Container.) We are not persuaded that a jury view of the scene will be necessary or desirable in the pending case; however, we leave open the question of whether such an event could be arranged by agreement of the parties and the trial court. 2 Even assuming a jury view is infeasible, we do not believe this consideration strongly weighs in favоr of moving the trial to Walworth County.
We next consider some of the public interest factors that defendants believe support their position. One of the most important, defendants contend, is the judicial preference for the forum whose law will apply. Although the trial court has not definitively ruled on this issue, defendants state that it is highly likely that Wisconsin law will govern this litigation. They assert that this consideration “has been rеcognized as dispositive by the courts of this state,” citing Adkins. The supreme court in Adkins did state that an Iowa court is in the superior position to determine Iowa law; however, this was cited as only one of several relevant considerations in determining the application of the forum non conveniens doctrine. More recently, we specifically held in Stone Container that choice of law considerations could not be deemed dispositive, in light of the other relevant connections the litigation may have with the forum. (Stone Container,
Defendants’ final contention is that a trial in Walworth County would progress at a faster pace than it would in Cook County because of the relatively fewer number of cases filed in Walworth County. We have no statistics to actually compare the delays between suits filed and judgments reached in the two counties. While it is not improbable that a trial in Wisconsin would progress more quickly, we decline to speculate on this possibility. Moreover, since other variables undoubtedly contribute to trial delay, we do not believe defendants have demonstrated that the conduct of the litigation would be significantly facilitated in Wisconsin.
We have examined the parties’ arguments and have restricted our inquiry to determining whether the balance of factors set forth above so favors defendants as to establish that the trial court abused its discretion in denying the motion to dismiss. As plaintiffs have indicated, almost all of the relevant medical evidence is located in Illinois, as well as all of the pertinent information regarding defendants’ trucking operation. Plaintiffs have established their need for easy access to that information. As the reviewing court, we are not in a position to reweigh the connections between the litigation and the forums. We conclude, however, that plaintiffs sufficiently established relevant connections between the controversy and the Cook County court. None of defendants’ factors strongly justifies removal of this cause from plaintiffs’ chosen forum. We accordingly affirm the trial court’s order denying defendants’ motion to dismiss.
Affirmed.
Notes
The complaint alleged that Ronald аnd Dale Grant were Wisconsin residents at the time of the occurrence. Ronald Grant later moved to Tennessee. Lela Grant is also a Tennessee resident. The defendant corporation, Chippewa, is incorporated in Wisconsin. Starck and Wayne Lange are both Illinois residents. On these facts it does not appear that the Federal court would have diversity jurisdiction.
The distance from Chicago to Walworth County is approximately 90 miles. In Adkins the distance between the forum and the accident scene was 200 miles; in Giseburt it was 350 miles.