In a blow to plaintiffs seeking to sue U.S. franchisors in a domestic forum for injuries allegedly incurred at franchised locations outside of the U.S., an Illinois federal court dismissed a lawsuit arising out of the death of an Illinois resident at a franchised hotel in Mexico. In Wozniak v. Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, LLC, 2009 WL 901134 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 31, 2009), an Illinois federal court granted the defendant franchisor’s motion to dismiss under the doctrine of forum non conveniens. The case arose when plaintiff and her husband, who were from Illinois, stayed at a Wyndham hotel while on a trip to Cozumel, Mexico. Plaintiff’s husband was walking in the lobby of the hotel when he slipped and fell over the side of a stairwell, ultimately dying from injuries sustained from the fall. The plaintiff filed a wrongful death action in Illinois state court against Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, the franchisor of the involved hotel. Wyndham removed the action to federal court and then moved to dismiss.
In granting the motion, the court found that Mexico was an available and adequate alternative forum, as the vast majority of relevant documents and physical evidence relating to the case were located in Mexico, likely witnesses were located in Mexico, and Mexican law governed the dispute. After balancing the public and private interest factors, the court concluded that given the tenuous connection of the controversy to Illinois, litigating the case in Illinois would be unnecessarily burdensome for Wyndham. The court also found that while great deference is given to the plaintiff’s choice of forum, in this case the private and public interest factors overwhelmingly favored dismissal.