Justia Alabama Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

The State sought certiorari for review of a decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals that reversed the Juvenile Court's decision to deny G.M.'s motion to suppress evidence that G.M. argued was obtained pursuant to an illegal search. The matter was one of first impression for the Supreme Court: whether evidence of a public-school student's association with an individual known to be involved in criminal activity and suspected of being affiliated with a gang, without more, constituted reasonable grounds for a search of the student by a school official under the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court concluded that it did not. Therefore, the Court affirmed the Court of Criminal Appeals' judgment. View "G. M. v. Alabama " on Justia Law

Frank Moultrie appealed a circuit court judgment that assessed attorney fees and costs to Moultrie after finding him in contempt for violating the terms of a temporary restraining order. Upon review, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal in part and affirmed the judgment. Based on the arguments presented by Moultrie in this appeal, the Court could not conclude that Moultrie had affirmatively demonstrated that the circuit court exceeded its discretion by assessing the attorney fees and costs against Moultrie. View "Moultrie v. Wall, II" on Justia Law

Target Media Partners Operating Company, LLC and Specialty Marketing Corporation d/b/a Truck Market News, have litigated a commercial contract dispute since 2007. Each party alleged breach-of-contract claims against the other. The litigation ended with a jury verdict in favor of Ed Leader, Target Media's vice president of trucking on the promissory-fraud claim against him; in favor of Specialty Marketing on its fraudulent misrepresentation claim, and in favor of Target Media on its breach of contract counterclaim. Target Media and Leader appealed the judgment entered in favor of Specialty Marketing on its claims against Target Media and Leader. After careful review of the trial court record, the Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's order that denied Target Media and Leader's postjudgment motion, but the case was remanded for re-review of the punitive damages award. View "Target Media Partners Operating Company, LLC v. Specialty Marketing Corporation" on Justia Law

Toma E. Smith, as personal representative of the estate of Tiffani P. Smith, appeals the grant of a summary judgment in favor of Dr. James Fleming, and a judgment entered in favor of Dr. Winfield S. Fisher III and the University of Alabama Foundation on her wrongful death claims. Dr. Fisher and the Foundation cross-appealed, arguing that the action should have been dismissed as being void ab initio. Based on the trial court record, the Supreme Court concluded the trial court did not err in entering a summary judgment in favor of Dr. Fleming. The Court concluded the trial court did not err in its judgment in favor of Dr. Fisher and the Foundation. View "Smith v. Winfield" on Justia Law

The Board of Equalization and Adjustment of Shelby County appealed a consent judgment reflecting an agreement between the Board and Shelby 39, LLC. The Board argued the circuit court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over certain matters decided by the consent judgment. Upon review, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Board of Equalization and Adjustment of Shelby County v. Shelby 39, LLC " on Justia Law

Joseph Lester Pate petitioned the Supreme Court Court for a writ of certiorari to review the Court of Criminal Appeals' affirmance by unpublished memorandum of the circuit court's denial of his motion for reconsideration of his sentence imposed pursuant the Habitual Felony Offender Act ("the HFOA"). The trial court dismissed Pate's "Kirby" motion because it erroneously believed that it lacked jurisdiction to consider it. The Court of Criminal Appeals, on remand from the Supreme Court's decision in "Ex parte Pate," affirmed the trial court's order because it determined that Pate was not entitled to review (on the merits) of a second "Kirby" motion because, it said, there was no indication that Pate's first "Kirby" motion had not properly been considered. The Supreme Court concluded that there was indeed no indication in the record that Pate's first "Kirby" motion was considered on the merits. The judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals was reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings. View "Pate v. Alabama" on Justia Law

Jessica Eastman, as the dependent widow of David Bentley, and on behalf of Bentley's three minor children, appealed a judgment entered in favor of R. Warehousing and Port Services Inc. On appeal to the Supreme Court, she argued: (1) that she was entitled to a judgment as a matter of law on R. Warehousing's affirmative defense based on the "loaned-servant" doctrine; and (2) she was entitled to a new trial because counsel for R. Warehousing implied during opening statements that she had recovered workers' compensation benefits from Richway Transportation Services,Inc. in violation of the collateral-source rule. Finding no error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Eastman v. R Warehousing & Port Services, Inc. " on Justia Law

Michelle D. Morgan appealed the grant of summary judgment in favor of Publix Super Markets, Inc., on her claim alleging a violation of the Alabama Medical Liability Act. Morgan sued Publix, asserting that she had suffered physical, mental, and emotional injuries based on its negligence in partially filling her amlodipine prescription with furosemide. Following the close of discovery, the trial court granted Publix's motion for a summary judgment, holding that Morgan was unable to prove her case because she had not identified an Alabama-licensed pharmacist as an expert witness and could not, therefore, establish a breach of the applicable standard of care as required by the AMLA. Morgan appealed, and the Supreme Court reversed the grant of summary judgment entered by the trial court. The Supreme Court concluded that a pharmacy's negligence in dispensing the wrong medication is so apparent that a layperson can understand it without the assistance of expert testimony. The case was remanded for further proceedings. View "Morgan v. Publix Super Markets, Inc. " on Justia Law

Rebecca B. McDonald, as administrator of the estate of her son Jeremy Wayne McDonald, sued Kubota Manufacturing of America Corporation, Kubota Corporation, and Kubota Tractor Corporation, asserting various claims after her son died as a result of injuries sustained when a Kubota lawnmower he was operating rolled over, pinning him underneath it. Following a three-week trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the Kubota defendants, and the trial court entered a judgment on that verdict. McDonald's subsequent motion for a new trial was denied by the trial court, and McDonald appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that she was entitled to a new trial based on juror misconduct and errors the trial court made when instructing the jury. Finding no abuse of discretion nor errors at trial, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "McDonald v. Kubota Manufacturing of America Corporation et al. " on Justia Law

In case no. 1111525, M & F Bank ("M & F") appealed a summary judgment entered in favor of First American Title Insurance Company ("FATIC") on negligence, breach-of-contract, and bad-faith-failure-to-pay claims M&F asserted against FATIC related to a title-insurance policy ("the title policy") FATIC issued M & F in connection with a mortgage loan made by M & F to a developer of property in Auburn. In case no. 1111568, FATIC appealed the grant of summary judgment entered in favor of M & F on FATIC's counterclaims asserting abuse of process, conspiracy, breach of contract, and negligence. Upon review of both cases, the Supreme Court affirmed both judgments. View "M & F Bank v. First American Title Insurance Company " on Justia Law