ELR Citation: ELR 20235
No(s). A112832 (Cal. App. 1st Dist. Nov 21, 2006)

The court held that Texas is a suitable alternative forum for a family's California survival and wrongful death action against a chemical manufacturer in a case involving their husband and father who contracted fatal leukemia due to his alleged exposure to chemicals in both California and Texas. The decedent suffered some injury from exposure to chemicals in California, the forum selected by the family, but subsequently experienced exposure to chemicals for almost two decades in Texas, the forum preferred by the chemical manufacturer. The district court did not err in determining that California is a seriously inconvenient forum and that Texas provides a convenient one. The decedent spent the vast majority of his employment in Texas, the majority of the benzene exposure occurred in Texas at Texas printing companies, the decedent was diagnosed and treated in Texas, and he passed away in Texas. In addition, California has little interest in this litigation given the decedent's lengthy work history in Texas and the relative insignificance played by California corporations among the defendants. Meanwhile, Texas, where most of the chemical exposure occurred and where the decedent lived, worked, was treated, and died, has a superior interest in hearing this litigation.