First Midwest Corp. v. Corporate Finance Associates

NEUMAN, Justice.

Respect for the sound judgment of our trial courts leads us to rarely reverse discretionary decisions. But the facts surrounding this appeal persuade us that the Iowa court’s denial of a stay pending trial in Nebraska permitted unreasonable — in fact, blatant — forum shopping by the plaintiff who summarily prevailed here. We therefore reverse.

I.Background Facts and Proceedings.

The pertinent facts are essentially undisputed. The plaintiff, First Midwest, is an Iowa corporation engaged, among other things, in the packaging business. The defendant, Corporate Finance Associates…