diff --git a/cddl/usr.sbin/zfsd/case_file.cc b/cddl/usr.sbin/zfsd/case_file.cc
index 1ddffae8a884..c14009bdf678 100644
--- a/cddl/usr.sbin/zfsd/case_file.cc
+++ b/cddl/usr.sbin/zfsd/case_file.cc
@@ -186,6 +186,12 @@ CaseFile::DeSerialize()
 	free(caseFiles);
 }
 
+bool
+CaseFile::Empty()
+{
+	return (s_activeCases.empty());
+}
+
 void
 CaseFile::LogAll()
 {
diff --git a/cddl/usr.sbin/zfsd/case_file.h b/cddl/usr.sbin/zfsd/case_file.h
index fcb1261f2a67..b4dc2dee5d96 100644
--- a/cddl/usr.sbin/zfsd/case_file.h
+++ b/cddl/usr.sbin/zfsd/case_file.h
@@ -134,6 +134,11 @@ class CaseFile
 	 */
 	static void      DeSerialize();
 
+	/**
+	 * \brief returns true if there are no CaseFiles
+	 */
+	static bool	Empty();
+
 	/**
 	 * \brief Emit syslog data on all active CaseFile%%s in the system.
 	 */
diff --git a/cddl/usr.sbin/zfsd/zfsd_event.cc b/cddl/usr.sbin/zfsd/zfsd_event.cc
index 50da07631d5a..707a868c67e8 100644
--- a/cddl/usr.sbin/zfsd/zfsd_event.cc
+++ b/cddl/usr.sbin/zfsd/zfsd_event.cc
@@ -98,8 +98,16 @@ bool
 GeomEvent::Process() const
 {
 	/*
-	 * We are only concerned with create arrivals and physical path changes,
-	 * because those can be used to satisfy online and autoreplace operations
+	 * We only use GEOM events to repair damaged pools.  So return early if
+	 * there are no damaged pools
+	 */
+	if (CaseFile::Empty())
+		return (false);
+
+	/*
+	 * We are only concerned with arrivals and physical path changes,
+	 * because those can be used to satisfy online and autoreplace
+	 * operations
 	 */
 	if (Value("type") != "GEOM::physpath" && Value("type") != "CREATE")
 		return (false);