Soria v. Chrysler Canada

State: Illinois

Court: 2nd District Appellate

Docket No: 2-10-1236 NRel

Case Date: 06/24/2011

Preview:ILLINOIS OFFICIAL REPORTS
Appellate Court

Soria v. Chrysler Canada, Inc., 2011 IL App (2d) 101236

Appellate Court Caption

ESTER SORIA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. CHRYSLER CANADA, INC., Defendant-Appellant (Key Safety Systems, Inc., and Harvey Lee Sledge, Defendants). Second District Docket No. 2-10-1236 June 24, 2011 October 24, 2011 A Canadian automobile manufacturer's motion to dismiss plaintiff's action for the loss of her vision when the door to the airbag module in one of defendant's vehicles fractured during deployment was properly denied, notwithstanding defendant's argument that the trial court lacked personal jurisdiction over defendant, since the trial court properly found that sufficient minimum contacts existed under either the broad or narrow version of the stream-of-commerce theory to exercise personal jurisdiction over defendant, especially when defendant purposefully availed itself of the privilege of conducting activities in Illinois and was aware that its products were distributed in Illinois, plaintiff's action arose out of or was related to defendant's contacts with Illinois, and Illinois's interest in resolving the dispute and advancing the substantive social policy of compensating victims of torts occurring in Illinois and ensuring the safety of vehicles on its roadways outweighed the burden placed on defendant by requiring it to litigate in Illinois and justified the conclusion that it is reasonable for Illinois to exercise personal jurisdiction over defendant, and, furthermore, defendant did not assert that Illinois due process analysis diverged from the federal due process analysis, and suit in Illinois was foreseeable as to any injuries resulting from defects in defendant's vehicles.

District & No.

Filed Modified upon denial of rehearing Held
(Note: This syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader.)

Decision Under Review

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Winnebago County, No. 09-L-174; the Hon. J. Edward Prochaska, Judge, presiding.

Judgment Counsel on Appeal

Affirmed. Hugh C. O'Donnell, Nora C. Bloom, and Ryan J. McQueeney, all of Sanchez, Daniels & Hoffman LLP, of Chicago, and Cheryl A. Bush, of Bush Seyferth & Paige PLLC, of Troy, Michigan, for appellant. Timothy M. Whiting and Brian C. Thomas, both of Whiting Law Group, Ltd., of Chicago, and Paul L. Redfearn and Michael D. Wallis, both of Redfearn Law Firm, P.C., of Kansas City, Missouri, for appellee.

Panel

PRESIDING JUSTICE JORGENSEN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Justices Hudson and Birkett concurred in the judgment and opinion.

OPINION

Download Soria v. Chrysler Canada.pdf