State Farm General Insurance v. JT's Frames, Inc.

—In an Illinois lawsuit, appellant JT’s Frames, Inc. (JT’s), obtained a settlement on behalf of itself and a class of similarly situated entities based on defendant’s transmission of over 74,000 unsolicited faxes to class members. In the underlying lawsuit, respondent State Farm General Insurance Company (State Farm) sought a declaration that JT’s claims were not covered as “advertising injury” or “property damage” under policies State Farm allegedly issued to the Illinois defendant. JT’s moved to quash service of State Farm’s complaint on the ground JT’s was not subject to personal jurisdiction in California. The trial court denied the motion to quash, and JT’s sought a writ in this court. While the writ petition was pending, the parties moved forward with the litigation, and the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of State Farm shortly before the writ was summarily denied.

JT’s appeals both the judgment entered and the order denying its motion to quash. We conclude the order denying the motion to quash is not appealable where, as here, the party contesting jurisdiction enters a general appearance and litigates the merits. We further conclude that the claims…