Court Opinion

ID: 9886870
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 16:43:43.101111+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:34:07.415749
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE McCULLOUGH, concurring.
I join the majority's opinion in full. I write separately, however, to highlight the fact *277that this case does not address, much less resolve, whether an appearance made prior to the entry of judgment before someone who is not a judge constitutes a general appearance that waives any defect in personal jurisdiction. A variety of institutional actors perform valuable functions that assist the courts in handling cases, including clerks of court, mediators, commissioners of accounts, and commissioners in chancery. These actors occasionally perform their functions based on an informal local arrangement, or their role can stem from a statutorily sanctioned delegation of judicial power. It may be that appearing before a person who is assisting the court in the dispatch of judicial business constitutes a general appearance that waives defects in personal jurisdiction, or it may be that the law treats such an appearance differently than an equivalent appearance before a court. A future case will have to answer that question.