When pursuing justice and compensation in the aftermath of a spinal injury, where to file suit can matter just as much as who to file suit against or the evidence and documentation that comprises your case. This can be because of differing laws, judges, and controlling cases from one state to another, but it can also be because of convenience. The entire process can be significantly more cumbersome if you have to travel to a courthouse out of state, especially in the aftermath of a spinal injury.
What Venues Are Available
Sometimes, the choice of venue is simple, but not always. This is because multiple different jurisdictions can be legitimate venues at any given time. When this happens, the choice of venue becomes a matter of picking whichever legitimate jurisdiction is most convenient for you. Say, for example, your spinal injury occurred during a car crash in Indiana, but you live in Ohio, the person you got into the accident with lives in Kansas, but the company which manufactured the cars is incorporated in Delaware and has its principal place of business in New Jersey. What do you do?
It depends on who the target for the suit is. If you intend on filing suit against the other person involved in the accident, you can do so in either Indiana, where the accident occurred, or Kansas, where the defendant lives. If, instead, you want to file suit against the company, you can do so in Indiana, Delaware, or New Jersey. The location of the accident is always a valid venue, but because the corporation is incorporated in Delaware but has its principal place of business in New Jersey, it resides in both and can be sued in either jurisdiction.
Why Choose One Venue Over Another?
There are many different reasons you might prefer to file suit in one specific venue over another. To use the same example, you might prefer to file in Indiana simply because it is the closest available jurisdiction to your home state of Ohio. Indiana may also be the best option because, since it was the location of the accident, any witnesses to the accident are likely to live in or near Indiana, or at least, have been to Indiana before. Alternatively, Indiana may be desirable because, no matter whether you plan on filing suit against the other driver or the manufacturer, Indiana is a valid jurisdiction.
Alternatively, the reason to choose one venue over another might have more to do with the applicable state laws and judges. One jurisdiction might have a recent history of being more favorable to plaintiffs, or might have state statutes which are more favorable to plaintiffs. Regardless, as far as the law is concerned, no valid jurisdiction is any more or less correct than any other, so the decision of where to file suit rests almost entirely with you and your attorney.
Changing Venue
Once the suit has made it to court in your chosen venue, the defendant, whether it be a person or a corporation, may file to transfer venue to a legitimate location that is more convenient for them. In the aforementioned example, that would be either Kansas, New Jersey, or Delaware. The court will transfer venue only if doing so is in the “interests of justice,” which is itself a combination of multiple factors. These range from the preferences of each party, to the location of the witnesses, to the relative physical and financial conditions of each party to determine who would be inconvenienced more by going to an unfavorable jurisdiction, to court congestion and the general interest in deciding local cases at home.
In this balancing act, your preference as the plaintiff receives a great deal of deference. Your spinal cord injury itself would also likely weigh the balancing act in your favor, because it would inconvenience you more to go to a far-away jurisdiction than it would for most defendants, especially if the defendant is a corporation such as a car manufacturer. Finally, once again using the above example, if you did choose to file in Indiana, the interest in local courts deciding local cases, and the presence of witnesses, would weigh even further in favor of keeping the venue there. Ultimately, the prospect of transferring venue is one more element to consider when choosing where to file suit.
Let Us Help You!
The Spinal Cord Injury Law Firm has vast experience in fighting for those with catastrophic injuries. We know the personal injury legal process well, and we will fight for you to receive as much compensation as possible so you can live a safe, healthy, and financially secure life. If you or a loved one has experienced a catastrophic injury, contact us at 1-877-SCI-FIRM or info@spinalcordinjurylawyers.com today for a free legal consultation.
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