Berkhoff vs ABM Service Corporation

Filing 16

ORDER Granting 9 Motion to Change Venue. The Clerk of Court is instructed to transfer this case to the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois and close this case. Signed by Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey on 11/20/2015. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - NEV)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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DISTRICT OF NEVADA

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John M. Berkhoff,

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2:15-cv-1552-JAD-CWH

Plaintiff

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v.

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ABM Service Corporation, a Delaware Corporation;
Horace Mann Educators Corporation, an Illinois
corporation; Horace Mann Investors, Inc., a
Maryland corporation; Doe and Roe Defendants,

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Order Transferring Venue to the
United States District Court for the
Central District of Illinois based on
Forum-Selection Clause
[ECF 9]

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Defendants
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John Berkhoff sold Horace Mann products under an independent-contractor agreement with

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the company. In response to Berkhoff’s suit alleging that Horace Mann breached that agreement and

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acted tortiously against Berhoff, the company seeks to enforce the forum-selection clause in that

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agreement—which designates the federal or state court in Springfield, Illinois, as the only venues for

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any contract-related litigation—and moves to transfer venue to the federal court in Springfield,

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Illinois.1

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I held oral argument on the motion to transfer venue on November 20, 2015, and placed my

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findings and conclusions on the record. For the reasons stated on the record, I find the forum-

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selection clause clear and mandatory and that the § 1404 analysis, as modified by the United States

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Supreme Court in Atlantic Marine Construction Company, Inc. v. District Court,2 compels the

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transfer of this case. Berkhoff has not offered any persuasive reason—let alone the strong showing

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required under Atlantic Marine—to disregard the forum-selection clause that he expressly and

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contractually agreed to.

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IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED THAT defendant’s motion
[ECF 9] is GRANTED; the Clerk of Court is instructed to transfer this case to the United States

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ECF 9.

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Atlantic Marine Construction Company, Inc. v. District Court, 134 S. Ct. 568 (2013).
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District Court for the Central District of Illinois and close this case.
Dated this 20th day of November, 2015

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_________________________________
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Jennifer A. Dorsey
nifer A Dorsey
r
y
United States District Judge

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