Ct. of Appeals lacked jurisdiction to consider defendant’s appeal of Dist. Ct.'s order denying defendant’s motion to vacate preliminary injunction and holding defendant in contempt for violating said preliminary injunction arising out of defendant’s alleged retention of defendant’s computer equipment and confidential information after defendant had been terminated. Record showed that plaintiff’s action alleging violations of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Ill. Trade Secrets Act and Ill. Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, was still pending at time defendant filed instant notice of appeal, and thus defendant could appeal contempt finding only if he could appeal issuance of preliminary injunction. However, defendant filed instant notice of appeal more than 30 days following issuance of preliminary injunction, and thus instant appeal was untimely. Ct. rejected defendant’s claim that contempt order was appealable because he was also appealing denial of his motion to vacate preliminary injunction, since instant motion to vacate cannot enlarge time to appeal underlying issuance of preliminary injunction.
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Appellate Jurisdiction