diff --git a/merge-recursive.c b/merge-recursive.c
index 1b6db87ef0e9e7603ddada1aebfca6fbee423a93..3a652b7ff9cb1dda51d06c22391907dd50b24744 100644
--- a/merge-recursive.c
+++ b/merge-recursive.c
@@ -667,23 +667,21 @@ static int was_tracked(const char *path)
 {
 	int pos = cache_name_pos(path, strlen(path));
 
-	if (pos < 0)
-		pos = -1 - pos;
-	while (pos < active_nr &&
-	       !strcmp(path, active_cache[pos]->name)) {
-		/*
-		 * If stage #0, it is definitely tracked.
-		 * If it has stage #2 then it was tracked
-		 * before this merge started.  All other
-		 * cases the path was not tracked.
-		 */
-		switch (ce_stage(active_cache[pos])) {
-		case 0:
-		case 2:
+	if (0 <= pos)
+		/* we have been tracking this path */
+		return 1;
+
+	/*
+	 * Look for an unmerged entry for the path,
+	 * specifically stage #2, which would indicate
+	 * that "our" side before the merge started
+	 * had the path tracked (and resulted in a conflict).
+	 */
+	for (pos = -1 - pos;
+	     pos < active_nr && !strcmp(path, active_cache[pos]->name);
+	     pos++)
+		if (ce_stage(active_cache[pos]) == 2)
 			return 1;
-		}
-		pos++;
-	}
 	return 0;
 }