Illinois Supreme Court
Civil Court
Personal Jurisdiction
Suit filed for fatal crash of air ambulance helicopter in Chicago area. Suit filed against various entities, including a French company which manufactured a custom tail-rotor bearing. Multiple sales occurred over several years, with regular business dealings with a company which processed payments in Illinois, to whom the French company sells aerospace bearings. Illinois' exercise of specific personal jurisdiction over French company defendant comports with federal and Illinois due process, as company has requisite minimum contacts with Illinois per long-arm statute. Litigating in Illinois is reasonable, as deceased pilot lived and worked in Illinois for an Illinois-based employer, and crash occurred in Illinois. (FREEMAN, KIARMEIER, BURKE, and THEIS, concurring; GARMAN, dissenting.)