Pennsylvania Coalition for Civil Justice Reform (PCCJR) Executive Director Curt Schroder was a featured testifier earlier this week at a Senate State Government Committee hearing. Schroder testified in support of S.B. 125, introduced by Sen. Chris Dush, legislation that would amend the state constitution to give the state legislature the authority to pass laws establishing venue in civil cases.
“PCCJR not only supports the right of the General Assembly to determine venue policy, we also support limiting venue in all civil cases to where the cause of action arose,” Schroder testified. “Such a policy promotes fairness in litigation. Pennsylvania courts traditionally have given great weight and deference to a plaintiff’s choice of forum, or county, to bring suit. But doing so ignores basic notions of fairness and often places the plaintiff at an advantage in litigation at a moment when the case is based on allegations only. It assumes that the one bringing suit has interests that are greater than the one being sued. There is no equitable reason to give one party the advantage over the other at the start of the litigation.
Senate Bill 125 eliminates this uneven playing field and allows the General Assembly to determine where parties can fairly be sued.”
A video recording of the hearing was posted online. The hearing can be viewed in its entirety here.