The Appellate Corner
| Publication year | 2013 |
| Pages | 0060 |
| Citation | Vol. 74 No. 1 Pg. 0060 |
Wilson F. Green
Marc A. Starrett
By Wilson F. Green
Wilson F. Green is a partner in Fleenor & Green LLP in Tuscaloosa. He is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law and a former law clerk to the Hon. Robert B. Propst, United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. From 2000-09, Green served as adjunct professor at the law school, where he taught courses in class actions and complex litigation. He represents consumers and businesses in consumer and commercial litigation.
By Marc A. Starrett
Marc A. Starrett is an assistant attorney general for the State of Alabama and represents the state in criminal appeals and habeas corpus in all state and federal courts. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law. Starrett served as staff attorney to Justice Kenneth Ingram and Justice Mark Kennedy on the Alabama Supreme Court, and was engaged in civil and criminal practice in Montgomery before appointment to the Office of the Attorney General. Among other cases for the office, Starrett successfully prosecuted Bobby Frank Cherry on appeal from his murder convictions for the 1963 bombing of Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.
Below are the summaries of recent civil and criminal decisions of note from the Alabama and federal courts.
RECENT CIVIL DECISIONS
From the Alabama Supreme Court
Medical Malpractice; Veil-Piercing
Hill v. Fairfield Nursing & Rehab. Center LLC, No. 1090549 (Ala. Oct. 19, 2012)
Hill, a nursing home patient, sued nursing home operator LLC and parent/owner LLCs for claims under the AMLA, arising from Hill's breaking a leg while being moved from bed by CNA. At summary judgment, Hill supported claims against parent/owner LLCs using evidence that operator was operating a 190-bed facility, that parent/owner LLCs operated 30-plus nursing homes across the country using single-venue LLCs, and that operator LLC carried only $25,000 in liability insurance. Trial court granted summary judgment to parent/owner LLCs on veil-piercing claims, and case proceeded to trial as against the operator LLC. At trial, Hill offered nursing expert on issue of standard of care for use by CNA in transitioning patient to and from bed. Operator moved for JML on basis that expert testimony was insufficient because (1) the proper standard for patient movement was a physical therapist (PT) standard, as to which expert was not qualified to opine as a "similarly situated health care provider," and (2) expert had not established controlling causal standard for linking breach of standard to broken leg. Trial court granted JML to operator. The supreme court reversed 8-1 on all claims. Writing for the court, Justice Murdock concluded (1) the proper standard of care was a nursing standard, because the healthcare provider in issue was a CNA and not a PT; (2) there was substantial evidence of causation in light of the totality of the testimony concerning whether the breach of the standard probably caused the fall leading to the leg-break and (3) there was sufficient evidence of the factors supporting veil-piercing to create a triable issue in equity (to be decided by the court, not a jury) on whether the corporate veil should be pierced. Justice Stuart dissented.
Fraudulent Transfer Act; Veil-Piercing
Peacock Timber Transport Inc. v. BP Holding LLC, No. 1110348 (Ala. Oct. 19, 2012)
Peacock, a judgment creditor of BP, brought action against BP and other related entities (Blount Parrish et al), contending that transfer of $500,000 from BP to Diamond (another entity controlled by Blount Parrish) was fraudulent under the Alabama Fraudulent Transfer Act, Ala. Code § 8-9A-1 et seq. Defendants contended that the $500,000 paid to BP was actually paid to Blount Parrish, a bond firm, for work done for benefit of...
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