The Appellate Corner
| Jurisdiction | Alabama,United States,Federal |
| Citation | Vol. 75 No. 5 Pg. 0326 |
| Pages | 0326 |
| Publication year | 2014 |
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.
RECENT CIVIL DECISIONS
From the Alabama Supreme Court
Municipalities
Ex parte Labbe, No. 1030110 (Ala. June 6, 2014)
Volunteer Service Act, Ala. Code § 6-5-336, barred claims against municipality and mayor for alleged negligence and wantonness of volunteer firefighters
Evidence
Guyoungtech USA, Inc. v. Dees, No. 1120505 (Ala. June 6, 2014)
In workers' comp retaliatory discharge case, mortality tables were improperly admitted into evidence for purposes of establishing permanency of mental anguish, because the mental anguish testimony was too subjective and unsupported by expert medical evidence to establish permanence of injury
Personal Jurisdiction
Ex parte AutoSource Motors, LLC, No. 1130255 (Ala. June 13, 2014)
Utah car dealer who advertised car for sale on generally-accessible website was not subject to specific jurisdiction in Alabama; even assuming that the dealer made statement that buyer could "title the automobile in Alabama" actually constituted a "contact" with the State of Alabama, that sole, isolated contact was insufficient to support a finding of specific personal jurisdiction
Post-Arbitral Relief
Tucker v. Ernst & Young LLP, No. 1121048 (Ala. June 13, 2014)
Arbitrators did not exceed their powers under FAA section 10 in their decision-making, and, in fact, challenger's arguments were repackaged contentions that panel "manifestly disregarded" Alabama law, a now-discarded standard
State Agent Immunity
Ex parte City of Midfield, No. 1121211 (Ala. June 13, 2014)
Peace officer-immunity barred claims for negligence and negligence per se against municipality and officers arising from injuries sustained in high-speed chase. On the current record, however, municipality and decision-makers were not immune from negligent training and supervision claims.
Probate Court Jurisdiction
Ex parte O.S., No. 1121134 (Ala. June 20, 2014)
The court of civil appeals erred in concluding that circuit courts could exercise general equity powers, under Ala. Code § 12-11-31, over action collaterally attacking the probate court's judgment of adoption.
Statute of Limitations
Ex parte IRMCO, No. 1130110 (Ala. June 20, 2014)
This case involves a complex and unusual interpolation between the two-year, then six-year, then back-to-two-year statute of limitations for wantonness, and is the third appeal in the litigation made the basis of a published opinion (this is a 12-year old mass tort case). The supreme court held: (1) the statute-of-limitations question presented by the current petition was not of the species subject to mandamus review; (2) circuit court did not violate the mandate from IRMCO I and II by denying summary judgment on wantonness, because although a two-year statute of limitations on wantonness claims may have been in place at the time the former employees' claims arose, the six-year statute of limitations adopted in McKenzie v. Killian, 887 So. 2d 861 (Ala. 2004), was in place at the time the former employees asserted those claims against the new defendants in the first amended complaint (the first amended complaint did not relate back); but (3) trial court erred by allowing conspiracy claims to go forward because those were dismissed before a prior appeal on statute of limitations grounds, and no appeal had been taken from that dismissal.
Attorneys
Hall v. Environmental Litigation Group, Inc., No. 1130301 (Ala. June 20, 2014)
Client's claim against firm, contending that attorney's charging administrative fees as expenses violated terms of fee contract, was not subject to bar's exclusive jurisdiction and was therefore improperly dismissed
Res Judicata
Ex parte Webber, No. 1121443 (Ala. June 27, 2014)
Claims of plaintiff brought in second circuit court action were barred by res judicata due to prior case in small claims court, even though the current claims in circuit court were beyond the small claims court's jurisdiction, and wife shared "privity" with husband so that identity of parties was established, even though wife was not a party to the first case
Necessary and Indispensable Parties
Campbell v. Taylor, No. 1110057 (Ala. July 3, 2014)
Purported failure to join necessary or indispensable parties does not create a...
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