Justia Alabama Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

George E. Cutler appealed the dismissal of his medical-malpractice action against the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation, P.C. ("the University"), and Paul G. Matz, M.D. Cutler alleged defendants had been negligent and wanton in failing to inform him of a two-centimeter tumor/lesion in the right frontal region of his brain that was discovered by a magnetic resonance imaging ("MRI") scan of his brain taken in 2005; rather, he was told at that time that the tumor/lesion was a bruise. Cutler attached a copy of the MRI report to his complaint, which the trial court did not exclude. Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint, arguing that the complaint alleged facts that demonstrated a manifest, legal injury and the accrual of Cutler's cause of action within the four-year period of repose set forth in 6-5-482(a), Ala. Code 1975. The trial court dismissed the action against defendants, finding that it was barred by the for-year period of repose in 6-5-482(a). After reviewing the allegations of Cutler's complaint in light of the applicable standard of review, the Alabama Supreme Court concluded that Cutler would have been unable to prove any set of facts to support his claim that his legal injury occurred beyond the expiration of the four-year period of repose. As such, the Court affirmed the trial court's dismissal of his case. View "Cutler v. University of Alabama Health Services Foundation, P.C." on Justia Law

Juakeishia Pruitt filed a legal-malpractice claim against Bobby Cockrell, Jr., and Cockrell & Cockrell ("the Cockrell law firm"). Cockrell appealed the grant of summary judgment in favor of Pruitt. The claims in this case arose from Byron House's representation of Pruitt from late 2000 until January 2012. House worked as an associate with the Cockrell law firm from September 1995 until January 2012. This case involved House's handling of Pruitt's claims with regard to four separate causes of action: Pruitt's discrimination and breach-of-contract claims against Stillman College; Pruitt's sexual-discrimination claims against her employer Averitt/i3; Pruitt's claims against Gwendolyn Oyler arising from an automobile accident; and Pruitt's breach-of-contract claims against A+ Photography. After the statute of limitations had run on Pruitt's underlying claims against Stillman College, Averitt/i3, and Oyler, House made intentional misrepresentations to Pruitt regarding the status of those cases. House also made intentional representations regarding the status of Pruitt's case against A+ Photography. Additionally, House continued to make such representations regarding the status of Pruitt's cases against Stillman College and Averitt/i3 until well after the time any legal-malpractice case against him would have been barred by the applicable statute of repose. "A fraud committed by an attorney that defrauds the attorney's client as to the status of the client's underlying claim is actionable under the ALSLA separate and apart from the attorney's failure to timely file a complaint on the underlying claim." Therefore, Alabama Supreme Court concluded the trial court properly denied the Cockrell defendants' motion for a summary judgment as to the malpractice claims alleging that the Cockrell defendants were vicariously liable for fraudulent misrepresentations House made to Pruitt to conceal the existence of an underlying legal-malpractice claim. Accordingly, the Court affirmed the trial court's order. View "Cockrell v. Pruitt" on Justia Law

Petitioners Interstate Freight USA, Inc., Interstate Specialized, Inc., Interstate Freight, Inc. (collectively referred to as "the Interstate companies"), Charles Browning, and Donald Raughton, Sr., filed a petition for a writ of mandamus seeking to direct the Baldwin Circuit Court to vacate its order denying their motion to transfer the underlying action to the St. Clair Circuit Court and to enter an order granting the motion. The plaintiff in the underlying action, Kevin Vogler, was hired as a vice president/general manager for Interstate Specialized and Interstate Freight USA. Vogler sued, alleging that: in December 2013, he was working for another company and had become interested in acquiring the transportation branch of the Interstate companies; that he had entered into negotiations with Browning, the president of Interstate Freight USA and Interstate Specialized, and Raughton, a business consultant for the Interstate companies; that Browning and Raughton were acting on behalf of the Interstate companies; that the parties had agreed that "Vogler could acquire a minority interest in the trucking business over a two year period and, after two years of employment with the Interstate companies, would have the option of buying out the interest of Defendant Browning"; that Browning and Raughton had made representations to him regarding his salary and benefits; and that, based on those representations, Vogler left his previous employment and entered into separate employment contracts with Interstate Specialized and Interstate Freight USA. In early 2014, however, the businesses were shut down for "financial reasons," and Vogler's position was terminated. Petitioners moved to dismiss Vogler's complaint, or in the alternative, for a change of venue. After review, the Alabama Supreme Court concluded that Baldwin County was the proper venue, but that the trial court exceeded its discretion in denying the motion for change of venue on the "interest-of-justice" prong of the forum non conveniens statute. Accordingly, the Court granted the petition for the writ of mandamus and directed the trial court to transfer this case to the St. Clair Circuit Court. View "Ex parte Interstate Freight USA, Inc., et al." on Justia Law

Plaintiff Florian Hinrichs was riding in the front passenger seat of a 2004 GMC Sierra 1500 pickup truck that was owned and operated by his friend Daniel Vinson when they were involved in a motor-vehicle accident. Kenneth Smith was driving under the influence of alcohol and ran a stop sign, colliding with the passenger-side door of the Sierra. The Sierra rolled over twice, but landed on its wheels. Hinrichs suffered a spinal cord injury in the accident that left him a quadriplegic. The accident occurred in Geneva County. Hinrichs alleged that his injuries were caused by the defective design of the roof of the Sierra that allowed the roof over the passenger compartment to collapse during the rollover and by the defective design of the seat belt in the Sierra, which failed to restrain him. At the time of the accident, Hinrichs, a German citizen, was a member of the German military; he had been assigned to Fort Rucker for flight training. He and Vinson were in the same training program. Vinson had purchased the Sierra at Hill Buick, Inc., d/b/a O'Reilly Pontiac-Buick-GMC and/or Hill Pontiac-Buick-GMC in Pennsylvania in 2003. He drove it to Alabama in 2006 when he was assigned to Fort Rucker. General Motors Corporation, known as Motors Liquidation Company after July 9, 2009 ("GM"), designed the Sierra. GM Canada, whose principal place of business was in Ontario, Canada, manufactured certain parts of the Sierra, assembled the vehicle, and sold it to GM in Canada, where title transferred. GM then distributed the Sierra for sale in the United States through a GM dealer. The Sierra ultimately was delivered to the O'Reilly dealership for sale. Finding that the trial court properly concluded it lacked general nor specific jurisdiction over GM Canada, the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed dismissal of GM Canada from this case. View "Hinrichs v. General Motors of Canada, Ltd." on Justia Law

Defendant Alfa Mutual Insurance Company petitioned for mandamus relief when a circuit court denied its motion to strike an amended complaint filed by plaintiffs Ronald and Mary Land on a dispute between the parties on a dispute arising out of a farm-owner's policy insurance issued to the Langs by Alfa. The matter was set for trial and was continued on at least four occasions. Thereafter, in connection with further discovery efforts by the Langs, Alfa asked whether the Langs intended to amend their original complaint and allegedly received no response from the Langs' attorney. Almost exactly two years from the filing date of their original complaint, the Langs filed an amended complaint, which added a fictitiously named defendant identified as the party "whose responsibility it was to inspect the property of the Langs, to insure their farm policy provide[d] adequate coverage and/or that the Langs were not paying for insurance to property which they did not own." The Langs' complaint, as amended, added new counts asserting negligence and fraudulent/reckless misrepresentation and an additional breach-of-contract claim. Alfa moved to strike the amended complaint on numerous grounds. The Supreme Court granted Alfa's application and issued the writ, finding that the Langs failed to demonstrate good cause ("or, in fact, any cause") for the excessive delay in amending their complaint when they knew or should have known of the claims before or at the time they filed their original complaint. "Further, the claims were actually suggested by Alfa's counsel." At the time the Langs filed their amendment, the case had been set for trial on several occasions, and the amendment would unduly prejudice Alfa, who, as a result of the Langs' excessive delay, could not fully and fairly defend against the claims added by the amendment because a key witness had died.The trial court exceeded its discretion in allowing the Langs to amend their complaint so near the trial date in order to add claims based on facts that were or ought to have been known to the Langs well prior to that date. View "Ex parte Alfa Mutual Insurance Company." on Justia Law

Defendant Kelly Lucas applied for mandamus relief, requesting that the Alabama Supreme Court direct Shelby Circuit Court to vacate its December 7, 2015, order denying her motion for a summary judgment and to grant the motion. This application arose out of the court case surrounding two related automobile accidents in 2011: in the first, Megan Gragg failed to stop her vehicle and allowed the front bumper of her vehicle to collide with the rear bumper of Diana McKee's vehicle. Shortly thereafter, in the second accident, Lucas failed to stop her vehicle and allowed the front bumper of her vehicle to collide with the rear bumper of Gragg's vehicle, which then collided with the rear bumper of McKee's vehicle a second time. All three drivers spoke with the law enforcement officer who responded after the accidents, and the officer later completed two accident reports. McKee sued Gragg, alleging negligence and wantonness in connection with the accidents. Lucas filed an answer to the amended complaint. She denied McKee's allegations and also asserted affirmative defenses, including the expiration of the statute of limitations. After review of the trial court record, the Alabama Supreme Court concluded that Lucas met her burden for mandamus relief, and that the Circuit Court erred in denying her motion for summary judgment. The Court therefore granted Lucas' application and issued the writ. The Circuit Court was directed to vacate its order and enter summary judgment in Lucas' favor. View "Ex parte Kelly Martin Lucas." on Justia Law

In her application for rehearing, K.G.S. did not argue that the Alabama Supreme Court overlooked or misapprehended any point of law or fact in holding that J. Michael Druhan, a Mobile attorney, had been improperly appointed to hear the case after the recusal of Judge Don Davis. Instead, K.G.S. moved the Court to "consider the Affidavit of Probate Judge Don Davis and its attached Order of the Presiding Judge of the Circuit Court of Mobile County, Alabama date April 28, 2010." K.G.S. had an "obligation to attach to her petition '[c]opies of any order or opinion or parts of the record that would be essential to an understanding of the matter set forth in the petition.'" But the Supreme Court found K.G.S. failed to do so, omitting the April 28, 2010 order. The Supreme Court overruling K.G.S.'s application for review: "K.G.S. may not now, for the first time in her application for rehearing, present additional documentation in support of her argument." Furthermore, the Court found K.G.S. did not present any evidence indicating that Judge Davis ever certified to the presiding judge of the circuit court his inability to serve in the case. "Therefore, even if we were to consider the new documents presented by K.G.S., she has not demonstrated that this Court overlooked or misapprehended any point of law or fact." View "Ex parte K.R." on Justia Law

CVS Pharmacy, L.L.C. ("CVS"), petitioned the Alabama Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus to direct the Montgomery Circuit Court to dismiss the complaint of the plaintiff Mildred Scott, as untimely filed. Scott filed a complaint asserting negligence and wantonness claims against CVS after she slipped and fell in a CVS store while shopping. Scott did not pay a filing fee when she filed the complaint; she filed an "Affidavit of Substantial Hardship," indicating that she was unable to pay the filing fee. The circuit court entered an order purporting to declare Scott indigent and to waive the filing fee. On that same day, the summons against CVS was issued, and CVS was served with the summons and complaint. A few days after the complaint was served, the circuit court entered an order reversing its earlier order, and denying Scott's affidavit of substantial hardship. Several days after this, Scott paid the filing fee. CVS moved to dismiss Scott's complaint on the ground that the applicable two-year statutory limitations period had expired without the payment of the filing fee or the approval of Scott's affidavit of substantial hardship. The circuit court denied CVS's motion to dismiss. Finding that the circuit court erred in this dismissal, the Supreme Court granted CVS' writ application. View "Ex parte CVS Pharmacy, L.L.C." on Justia Law

Wayne Farms, LLC, petitions this Court for a writ of mandamus ordering the Bullock Circuit Court to vacate its order denying Wayne Farms' motion for a change of venue and to enter an order transferring the underlying action to the Pike Circuit Court. Ben and Imogene Hicks owned and operated a chicken farm in Pike County. In April 2013, Imogene entered into an agreement in which Wayne Farms agreed to deliver flocks of broiler chicks to the Hickses' farm. Ronnie King, an employee of Wayne Farms, drove a tractor-trailer owned by Wayne Farms to the Hickses' farm to pick up a load of chickens. After the chickens were loaded, King began to drive the tractor-trailer away. Before King left the Hickses' property, the loaded trailer detached from the tractor and overturned, pinning Ben to the ground and causing him to be injured. Ben and Imogene sued Wayne Farms and King in Bullock County, alleging claims of negligence and wantonness and seeking damages for Ben's injuries. Wayne Farms moved the Bullock Circuit Court to transfer the action to the Pike Circuit Court, acknowledging that venue was proper in Bullock County but that pursuant to the doctrine of forum non conveniens the action should have been transferred to Pike County. The Alabama Supreme Court granted the writ, concluding Wayne Farms demonstrated a clear legal right to a writ of mandamus directing the Bullock Circuit Court to vacate its order denying Wayne Farms' motion for a change of venue and to enter an order transferring the underlying action to Pike County. View "Ex parte Wayne Farms, LLC." on Justia Law

Petitioners Town of Summerdale, the City of Robertsdale, and Baldwin County Sewer Services, LLC ("BCSS") independently petitioned the Alabama Supreme Court for certiorari review of a Court of Civil Appeals' decision. In it, the appellate court concluded that the petitioners lacked standing to file actions against the East Central Baldwin County Water, Sewer and Fire Protection Authority ("ECBC") and the Baldwin County Commission ("the county commission") seeking a judgment declaring that two amendments to the articles of incorporation of ECBC approved by the county commission (one in 2002 and the other in 2008) were void. The Supreme Court granted review except for Summerdale's challenge to the 2008 amendment. The Court concluded that petitioners had standing, and accordingly reversed the decision of the Court of Civil Appeals. View "Ex parte Baldwin County Sewer Services, LLC." on Justia Law