Ritchey v. Rutter’s Inc., 2022 Pa. Super. LEXIS 436 (October 20, 2022) (Lazarus, J.) This was an accident that occurred in Cumberland County. Plaintiff resides in Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County. One of the defendants had a business in York, Pennsylvania, and regularly conducts business in Philadelphia. Plaintiff on the motorcycle was very seriously injured. The lawsuit was filed in Philadelphia. It was claimed that the matter be transferred from Philadelphia County to Cumberland or York County for the convenience of the parties because Cumberland County is 100 miles from Philadelphia and virtually all of the witnesses were located in Cumberland County or York. The court declined the transfer without a hearing. The court said on appeal that the case should not have been transferred. The court also mentioned that many of the depositions were taking place by Zoom. The trial court did not abuse its discretion denying Rutter’s motion to transfer based on forum non conveniens.
Attorney Cliff Rieders
Cliff Rieders is a Nationally Board Certified Trial Lawyer practicing personal injury law. A large part of his practice involves multi-district litigation, including cases related to pharmaceuticals, vitamin supplements and medical devices. He is admitted in several state and federal courts, as well as the Supreme Court of the United States. Rieders is the past regional president of the Federal Bar Association and is a life member of the distinguished American Law Institute, which promulgates proposed rules adopted by many state courts. He is a past president of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice, formerly Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association. As a founder of the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, he served on the Board for 15 years.
Not only has Rieders held many highly esteemed, leadership positions, he authored legislation related to the Patient Safety Authority and the Mcare Act, which governs medical and hospital liability actions in Pennsylvania. He authored texts upon which both practitioners and judges rely, including Pennsylvania Malpractice Laws and Forms, and Financial Responsibility Law Issues in Pennsylvania, the latter governing auto and truck collisions in Pennsylvania. In addition, he wrote several books on the practice of law in Pennsylvania regarding wrongful death and survivor actions, insurance bad faith, legal malpractice claims and worker rights, among others. Rieders also serves as a resource to practitioners as a regular speaker for Celesq, an arm of the world’s largest legal publisher, Thomson Reuters West Publishing.
As recognition of his wide range of contribution to his profession and of his dedication to protecting the rights of his clients, he received numerous awards, among them the George F. Douglas Amicus Curiae Award, the Milton D. Rosenberg Award, the B’nai B’rith Justice Award, and awards of recognition from the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers. [ Attorney Bio ]