MOUNT VERNON – St. Clair County Circuit Judge Kevin Hoerner committed error by identifying South Dakota resident Lynna Clemens as an Illinois resident, Fifth District appellate judges ruled on May 24.
The appellate court reversed an order Hoerner signed last year, exercising jurisdiction over a claim that Clemens committed battery, outrage, and negligence against Ashley Richards.
Justice Thomas Welch wrote, “A person can only have one domicile.”
Justices Randy Moore and Barry Vaughan concurred.
Richards sued Clemens in 2021, over an incident that occurred in St. Louis in 2020.
Clemens moved to dismiss the complaint, stating she hadn’t lived in Illinois since the Air Force relocated her to South Dakota in 2019.
Richards responded that Clemens bought a home in Belleville while she was stationed at Scott Air Force Base.
She claimed Clemens still owned the home, didn’t rent it, and kept possessions there.
She added that Clemens paid taxes and utilities on the home and received mail there.
Richards also claimed Clemens returned there after the incident.
In a deposition, Clemens said she was in the military 15 years and intended to retire after 20.
She said she was stationed at Scott from 2016 to 2019.
She added that she didn’t know where she’d live when she retired.
Clemens said she didn’t sell or rent the Belleville home because she had belongings there and she wasn’t comfortable selling it as it was.
She said she paid to keep the heat and water running.
She said a friend had a code for checking mail but it was mostly junk.
Clemens added that she kept no furniture there and the belongings were decorations and clothes.
She was originally from Pennsylvania but hadn’t lived there since 2007.
She said the Belleville home was the only one she owned.
Clemens claimed she came to Belleville for an event and stayed there while in town.
She said she returned to South Dakota and resided there through the time of her deposition.
Hoerner held a hearing last year, denied the motion, and granted Clemens leave to appeal.
Fifth District judges found he didn’t have general or specific jurisdiction.
Welch wrote that Illinois courts have general jurisdiction over persons for actions outside the state if they reside in the state or do business in the state.
He found that at the time of the incident Clemens didn’t have an Illinois license, didn’t physically reside in Illinois, and was staying in her home temporarily.
“The fact that she did not know where she wanted to live after retiring from the military in five years was not sufficient to assume she was still an Illinois resident,” he wrote.
“Nothing in the record shows that she ever intended to abandon her South Dakota residency and return to live permanently in Illinois at the time of the incident,” he added.
Welch wrote that Illinois authorizes specific jurisdiction under a long arm statute.
He wrote that the U.S. Supreme Court permits a state court to exercise jurisdiction over a resident of another state only when a defendant has certain minimum contacts with the state.
He found it undisputed that all the conduct in the complaint occurred in Missouri.
He found the argument that Clemens was subject to specific jurisdiction because she returned to her home unpersuasive.
Troy Lundquist of Joliet represents Clemens.
Brian Wendler of Edwardsville represents Richards.