Court Opinion

ID: 9479830
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:30:10.113576+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:18.525255
License: Public Domain

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I concur fully in the court’s analysis of the two issues of personal jurisdiction presented in this appeal. As the court notes, supra p. 571, our analysis “could stop” here. In my view, it should stop here.
The issue of whether Western was continuously and systematically doing business at the time it was made a party to this action is a serious one. See Reeves v. Baltimore & Ohio R.R., 171 Ill.App.3d 1021, 122 Ill.Dec. 145, 526 N.E.2d 404, 408 (1988). See generally Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia, S.A. v. Hall, 466 U.S. 408, 104 S.Ct. 1868, 80 L.Ed.2d 404 (1984). Unless it is resolved in favor of Asset, there will be no need to proceed further and to address the other issues that the court addresses here. Indeed, it is not at all certain that the court’s methodology achieves any significant judicial economy. If the district court determines that Western is amenable to jurisdiction in Illinois and reenters its injunction, the jurisdictional issue undoubtedly will be appealed. The merits of the injunction then can be reviewed if this court determines that the district court correctly determined that it had jurisdiction.
The majority is quite correct in noting that an appellate court can, in its discretion, review rulings that are closely related, even if not absolutely essential, to the validity of the injunction. However, I do not read these authorities to suggest that we ought to address in detail such issues while the fundamental question of the jurisdiction of the district court remains in serious doubt.