Ex Parte Indiana Mills & Mfg., Inc.

10 So. 3d 536, 2008 WL 5105451
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedDecember 5, 2008
Docket1070229
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 10 So. 3d 536 (Ex Parte Indiana Mills & Mfg., 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
Ex Parte Indiana Mills & Mfg., Inc., 10 So. 3d 536, 2008 WL 5105451 (Ala. 2008).

Opinion

10 So.3d 536 (2008)

Ex parte INDIANA MILLS & MANUFACTURING, INC., and McNeilus Truck and Manufacturing, Inc.
(In re Marcy Johnson, as personal representative of the estate of James Johnson, deceased v. McNeilus Truck and Manufacturing, Inc., et al.).

1070229.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

December 5, 2008.

*538 Charles A. Stewart III and Angela R. Rogers of Bradley Arant Rose & White L.L.P., Montgomery, for petitioner Indiana Mills & Manufacturing, Inc.; and R. Bruce Barze, Jr., and Steven R. Parker of Balch & Bingham LLP, Birmingham, for petitioner McNeilus Truck and Manufacturing, Inc.

Ted L. Mann and Robert Potter of Mann, Cowan & Potter, P.C., Birmingham, for respondent.

Thomas M. O'Hara of McDowell Knight Roedder & Sledge, L.L.C., Mobile, amicus curiae Alabama Defense Lawyers Association, in support of the petitioners.

SMITH, Justice.

Indiana Mills & Manufacturing, Inc. ("IMMI"), and McNeilus Truck and Manufacturing, Inc. ("McNeilus") (collectively "the petitioners"), petition for a writ of mandamus directing the Macon Circuit Court to transfer this action to the Lee Circuit Court on the basis of forum non conveniens. We grant the petition and issue the writ.

Facts and Procedural History

James Johnson worked for Sunflower Waste, LLC ("Sunflower"), a waste-disposal company whose principal office is located in Tallapoosa County. On March 7, 2006, James was driving a garbage truck owned by his employer. While James was traveling on Marvyn Parkway in Lee County, the raised rear door of the truck struck an overhead railroad trestle. The truck crashed, and James was killed when he was ejected through the front windshield.

The Opelika police and fire departments responded to the scene of the accident. James's body was transported to the East Alabama Medical Center, and his death was investigated by the Lee County coroner. The garbage truck was towed to a Sunflower facility located in Lee County.

Subsequently, Marcy Johnson, James's widow, on behalf of James's estate, sued McNeilus, the manufacturer of the garbage truck, and IMMI, the manufacturer of the seat belts in the garbage truck, alleging, among other things, that the truck and its seat belts were defective. Additionally, Marcy sued three individuals who were employees of Sunflower at the time of the accident: Jack Conner, a maintenance manager; Russell Davis, an operations manager; and Van Forrester, a district manager, alleging that these individual defendants willfully breached a duty to provide James with a safe work *539 environment and that they willfully removed, failed to install, or failed to maintain certain safety devices on the garbage truck and, in doing so, contributed to James's death. See Ala.Code 1975, § 25-5-11.

The petitioners, joined by Conner, Davis, and Forrester, filed motions to transfer the case to the Lee Circuit Court based on the doctrine of forum non conveniens. The trial court denied the motion, and IMMI and McNeilus petition for mandamus relief.

Standard of Review

"`The proper method for obtaining review of a denial of a motion for a change of venue in a civil action is to petition for the writ of mandamus.' Ex parte National Sec. Ins. Co., 727 So.2d 788, 789 (Ala.1998). A writ of mandamus is appropriate when the petitioner can demonstrate `(1) a clear legal right to the order sought; (2) an imperative duty upon the respondent to perform, accompanied by a refusal to do so; (3) the lack of another adequate remedy; and (4) the properly invoked jurisdiction of the court.' Ex parte BOC Group, Inc., 823 So.2d 1270, 1272 (Ala.2001). Additionally, this Court reviews mandamus petitions challenging a ruling on venue on the basis of forum non conveniens by asking whether the trial court exceeded its discretion. Ex parte Fuller, 955 So.2d 414 (Ala.2006); Ex parte Verbena United Methodist Church, 953 So.2d 395 (Ala.2006). Our review is limited to only those facts that were before the trial court. Ex parte Pike Fabrication, Inc., 859 So.2d 1089, 1091 (Ala. 2002)."

Ex parte Kane, 989 So.2d 509, 511 (Ala. 2008).

Discussion

Alabama Code 1975, § 6-3-21.1(a), provides when a civil action must be transferred under the doctrine of forum non conveniens:

"With respect to civil actions filed in an appropriate venue, any court of general jurisdiction shall, for the convenience of parties and witnesses, or in the interest of justice, transfer any civil action or any claim in any civil action to any court of general jurisdiction in which the action might have been properly filed and the case shall proceed as though originally filed therein...."

(Emphasis added.) A party moving for a transfer under § 6-3-21.1 has the initial burden of showing, among other things, one of two factors: (1) that the transfer is justified based on the convenience of either the parties or the witnesses, or (2) that the transfer is justified "in the interest of justice." Ex parte Masonite Corp., 789 So.2d 830, 831 (Ala.2001); Ex parte National Sec. Ins. Co., 727 So.2d 788, 789 (Ala.1998). A party may show that either or both of these factors require a transfer.

There is no dispute that venue in this case is proper in both Macon County and Lee County. However, the petitioners argued in their motion for a change of venue and in their mandamus petition both that the convenience of the parties and witnesses required that the case be transferred to Lee County and that it was in the interest of justice to do so. We need not analyze the convenience of the parties and witnesses in this case, because we hold that the interest of justice requires a transfer.[1]

*540 The "interest of justice" prong of § 6-3-21.1 requires "the transfer of the action from a county with little, if any, connection to the action, to the county with a strong connection to the action." Ex parte National Sec. Ins. Co., 727 So.2d at 790. Therefore, "in analyzing the interest-of-justice prong of § 6-3-21.1, this Court focuses on whether the `nexus' or `connection' between the plaintiff's action and the original forum is strong enough to warrant burdening the plaintiff's forum with the action." Ex parte First Tennessee Bank Nat'l Ass'n, 994 So.2d 906, 911 (Ala.2008). Additionally, this Court has held that "litigation should be handled in the forum where the injury occurred." Ex parte Fuller, 955 So.2d 414, 416 (Ala.2006). Further, in examining whether it is in the interest of justice to transfer a case, we consider "the burden of piling court services and resources upon the people of a county that is not affected by the case and... the interest of the people of a county to have a case that arises in their county tried close to public view in their county." Ex parte Smiths Water & Sewer Auth., 982 So.2d 484, 490 (Ala.2007). The petitioners in this case are thus required to demonstrate "`that having the case heard in [Lee] County would more serve the interest of justice'" than having the case heard in Macon County. Ex parte First Tennessee Bank, 994 So.2d at 909 (quoting Ex parte Fuller, 955 So.2d 414, 416 (Ala. 2006)).

Marcy argues that the interest of justice does not require a transfer in this case to Lee County because none of the parties reside or are located in Lee County.

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Bluebook (online)
10 So. 3d 536, 2008 WL 5105451, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-indiana-mills-mfg-inc-ala-2008.