Dabbieri v. City Boy's Tire & Brake, Inc.

87 So. 3d 521, 2011 WL 6848480, 2011 Ala. LEXIS 214
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedDecember 30, 2011
Docket1100205
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 87 So. 3d 521 (Dabbieri v. City Boy's Tire & Brake, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dabbieri v. City Boy's Tire & Brake, Inc., 87 So. 3d 521, 2011 WL 6848480, 2011 Ala. LEXIS 214 (Ala. 2011).

Opinion

PARKER, Justice.

Claudia Dabbieri filed a complaint in the Perry Circuit Court naming as defendants Donald Wease, Alabama Cable and Fiber Repair (“Alabama Cable”),1 PDQ CATV, Inc. (“PDQ”), City Boy’s Tire and Brake, Inc. (“CBT”), Continental Tire the Americas, LLC, and several fictitiously named defendants, asserting claims arising out of a motor-vehicle accident in Perry County. CBT moved the trial court, pursuant to Rule 12(b)(2), Ala. R. Civ. P., to dismiss Dabbieri’s claims against it for lack of personal jurisdiction; that motion was denied, and CBT petitioned this Court for a writ of mandamus, directing the trial court to grant CBT’s motion to dismiss. We grant the petition and issue the writ.

Facts and Procedural History

On March 19, 2008, Dabbieri, who resides in Perry County, went to the shop operated by CBT, which is located in High Springs, Florida. Dabbieri was driving a 2001 Chevy van that she apparently co-owned with her employer, Wease.2 Dabbi-eri states in her complaint that, after purchasing the van in November 2007, Wease and Alabama Cable (a business owned by Wease and Dabbieri’s employer) had all four tires on the van replaced.

When Dabbieri brought the van into CBT’s shop on March 19, 2008, CBT’s employees determined that one of the tires was leaking ah’. Dabbieri purchased a new tire from CBT and had employees of CBT install that tire on the van; the new tire was identical to the tire it replaced. The total cost, including mounting and balancing the new tire as well as disposing of the old tire, was $151.83, which Dabbieri paid in cash. On the receipt/statement of work, below the itemization of work done by CBT on the van, was the following language:

“Declined alignment
Lifetime balance, rotation, & flat repairs with new tire purchase.
Tire bal. & rotate rec every 6,000 miles road hazard covers all non repairable tire punctures. Tires will be prorated by tread depth down to 2/32nd mark.
Customer is responsible instillation [sic].”

Neither Dabbieri nor any employee of CBT signed the receipt/statement of work.

On April 15, 2008, Dabbieri was driving the van in Perry County when one of the three original replacement tires on the van, i.e., not the tire installed by CBT on March 19, 2008, failed, causing the van to leave the road and roll; Dabbieri sustained severe injuries. Later investigation indicated that the tire failure was probably caused by tread separation and that the tread separation might have been caused, at least in part, by the improper sizing of the tires on the van.

On April 14, 2010, Dabbieri filed her complaint. Dabbieri claimed that, as part of the installation of the new tire, CBT had a duty to inspect the van and to warn her of any dangers the inspection might reveal, including, she said, the fact that the tires that were on the van were the wrong size. [524]*524Dabbieri claimed that CBT breached that duty to inspect; that, as a result of CBT’s breach of that duty, she did not know the tires on the van were the wrong size; and that, because she lacked that knowledge, she continued driving the van with the wrong size tires, which, she claims, caused the accident in which she was injured.

For all that appears, neither Wease nor Alabama Cable responded to the complaint or appeared in the case. Continental Tire the Americas, LLC (allegedly the manufacturer of the failed tire), also apparently failed to respond to the complaint.

CBT filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the trial court lacked personal jurisdiction over it.3 CBT attached to its motion to dismiss an affidavit from Justin Ellison, the sole shareholder of CBT, in which he testified:

“1. My name is Justin Ellison. I am the sole shareholder of City Boy’s Tire and Brake, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as ‘[CBT]’), who is one of the named defendants in the above styled cause.
“2. [CBT] is a Florida corporation and, as stated, I am the sole shareholder and owner of that corporation. [CBT] is in the business of automobile and truck maintenance.
“3. I am a resident of the State of Florida and have been a continuous resident of Florida for over 30 years. I have never owned property in Alabama and have never conducted business there.
“4. [CBT] is located in High Springs, Florida. It began business in 1991, and has continuously been in business since that date.
“5. [CBT] has never had any place of business other than High Springs, Florida.
“6. The vast majority of the business done by [CBT] is servicing vehicles of local residents in Alachua County, Florida and some of its adjoining counties.
“7. At times, [CBT] will service vehicles which are traveling through Florida and may be in need of service. However, any such service would be an isolated incident.
“8. [CBT] only advertises in Alachua County, Florida and surrounding Florida counties. It does so by advertising in local newspapers and may send postcards locally in Alachua County, Florida and surrounding counties.
“9. [CBT] has never done business in the State of Alabama.
“10. [CBT] has never advertised in the State of Alabama or solicited business in Alabama.
“11. [CBT] is not licensed to do business in Alabama and has never paid taxes in the State of Alabama.
“12. [CBT] has never had an office or business location in the State of Alabama, and has never employed anyone who was a resident of the State of Alabama.
“13. [CBT] has never done any business by agent in the State of Alabama.
“14. [CBT] has never owned any real or personal property located in the State of Alabama.
“15. [CBT] has never purposely availed itself of the privilege of conducting activities in Alabama.
[525]*525“16. The selling of a tire by [CBT] at the place of business in March of 2008 to the Plaintiff, Claudia Dabbieri, was a single isolated incident.
“17. To the best of my knowledge [CBT] has never done any business with the plaintiff, other than on the one incident when she purchased a tire from [CBT],
“18. [CBT] does not solicit business or otherwise engage in any other persistent course of conduct or business in the State of Alabama. Accordingly, [CBT] does not derive substantial revenue from goods and services used or consumed in the State of Alabama nor from services rendered in the State of Alabama.
“19. All contact the plaintiff had with [CBT] was initiated by her. [CBT] never solicited her business.
“20. Although [CBT] is a corporation, it is essentially a sole proprietorship as the undersigned affiant is the only manager of the company.
“21. [CBT] has only one store located in High Springs, Florida, which is approximately 400 miles from Perry County, Alabama.
“22.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

MARC Transp. LLC v. Aviation Dep't, LLC (In re Maint. Grp., Inc.)
261 So. 3d 337 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2017)
Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Co. v. Allen
143 So. 3d 784 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2014)
P.B. Surf, Ltd. v. Savage
128 So. 3d 700 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
87 So. 3d 521, 2011 WL 6848480, 2011 Ala. LEXIS 214, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dabbieri-v-city-boys-tire-brake-inc-ala-2011.