Federal Judiciary

Product Liability Case Transferred

By Michael C. Smith

Simmons v. Ford Motor Co., 2009 WL 173850(E.D.Tex. Jan 05, 2009) (NO. CIV.A. 2:07-CV-098)
Judge: David Folsom
Holding:  Motion to Transfer Venue GRANTED
Simmons v. Ford appears to be the first venue order in a product liability case from the Eastern District to be published since in In re Volkswagen of Am., Inc., 545 F.3d 304 (5th Cir.2008).  Judge Folsom provides a succinct history of the Volkswagen proceeding, after which he engages in the required analysis post-Volkswagen, eventually concluding that the Amarillo Division of the Northern District of Texas, 513 miles from Marshall, would be "clearly more convenient" under the facts of this case, which the Court found involved a number of nonparty fact witnesses located in the Amarillo area.

Full post as published by Eastern District of Texas Federal Court Practice on January 30, 2009 (boomark / email).