Helton v. Brent Belcher Properties, Ltd.

64 So. 3d 25, 2010 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 322, 2010 WL 4371360
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedNovember 5, 2010
Docket2090698
StatusPublished

This text of 64 So. 3d 25 (Helton v. Brent Belcher Properties, Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Helton v. Brent Belcher Properties, Ltd., 64 So. 3d 25, 2010 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 322, 2010 WL 4371360 (Ala. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

THOMAS, Judge.

Clyde F. Helton, Jr., appeals from the Bibb Circuit Court’s summary judgment in favor of Brent Belcher Properties, Ltd. (“Belcher Properties”), and Brent Belcher (hereinafter collectively referred to as “the defendants”).

Facts and Procedural History

On June 16, 2006, Helton, an employee of Belcol Wood, Inc., was injured during the course of his employment when he fell through a skylight and suffered severe and permanent injuries. In a previous proceeding, Helton filed a workers’ compensation action against Belcol Wood; the parties to that action reached a settlement agreement awarding Helton workers’ compensation benefits. A general release of liability was included in the settlement agreement.

On June 16, 2008, Helton filed the present action against the defendants. Helton alleged that Belcher Properties owned the property upon which Helton had sustained his injuries, and he asserted that the defendants were negligent and/or wanton in failing to safeguard the property and that the defendants had “entered into certain contractual or indemnity agreements, to provide for assumption of liability for injuries sustained on the property,” of which Helton is allegedly a third-party beneficiary, and had subsequently breached those agreements. On July 18, 2008, the defendants filed an answer.

On August 28, 2009, the defendants filed a motion for a summary judgment arguing that Helton’s acceptance of workers’ compensation benefits estopped him from resorting to any other remedy and that the defendants did not own, manage, lease, or maintain the property upon which Helton had sustained his injuries. The defendants attached to their summary-judgment motion the affidavit of Brent Belcher, vice president of Belcol Wood, stating that Belcol Wood leased and maintained the property upon which Helton sustained his injuries and that the defendants were not liable to Helton because they did not own, manage, lease, or maintain the property at the time Helton had sustained his injuries. The defendants’ summary-judgment motion was set for a hearing to occur on November 5, 2009.

On November 3, 2009, Helton filed a response in opposition to the defendants’ summary-judgment motion in which he argued that Belcher Properties did, in fact, own the subject property and that the defendants had failed to address his breaeh-of-contract claim. Attached to Hel-ton’s response were documents purporting to show that Belcher Properties owned the property upon which Helton had sustained his injuries. On November 4, 2009, the defendants filed a motion to supplement their summary-judgment motion with the affidavit of Patrick Matlock, a mapper for the Bibb County tax assessor/collector, and various other documents. Those documents indicated that Belcher Properties did not own the property upon which Hel-ton had sustained his injuries on the date that Helton sustained his injuries.

On November 5, 2009, the circuit court entered a summary judgment in favor of the defendants on all claims, stating as follows:

“This matter is before the Court on the [defendants’] motion for summary judgment. The Court, having considered the evidence and arguments in favor of and in opposition to said motion, finds that the same is due to be and is hereby granted. The Court hereby en[28]*28ters judgment in favor of the [defendants] and against [Helton].”

On December 7, 2009, Helton filed a postjudgment motion to alter, amend, or vacate the circuit court’s judgment, which was denied by operation of law. On April 19, 2010, Helton filed an appeal to this court. This court transferred his appeal to the supreme court for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, and that court transferred the appeal to this court pursuant to § 12-2-7(6), Ala.Code 1975.

Standard of Review

“A party is entitled to a summary judgment when no genuine issue of material fact exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Rule 56(c), Ala. R. Civ. P. ‘Our standard of review in cases involving summary judgments is de novo.’ Lee v. Burdette, 715 So.2d 804, 806 (Ala.Civ.App.1998). ‘In reviewing the disposition of a motion for [a] summary judgment, we utilize the same standard as that of the trial court in determining whether the evidence before the court made out a genuine issue of material fact’ and whether the movant ‘is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.’ Bussey v. John Deere Co., 531 So.2d 860, 862 (Ala.1988); Rule 56(c)(3), Ala. R. Civ. P. ‘[I]f the moving party makes a prima facie showing that no genuine issue of material fact exists, then the burden ... shifts to the non-movant; ... the non-movant must show “substantial evidence” in support of his position.’ Bass v. SouthTrust Bank, 538 So.2d 794, 798 (Ala.1989). Evidence is ‘substantial’ if it is ‘of such weight and quality that fair-minded persons in the exercise of impartial judgment can reasonably infer the existence of the fact sought to be proved.’ West v. Founders Life Assurance Co., 547 So.2d 870, 871 (Ala.1989). Our review is further subject to the caveat that this court must review the record in a light that is most favorable to the nonmovant and must resolve all reasonable doubts against the movant. Hanners v. Balfour Guthrie, Inc., 564 So.2d 412, 413 (Ala.1990).”

Prime v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 804 So.2d 1102, 1103-04 (Ala.Civ.App.2001). Further, our supreme court has held that

“this Court will affirm the trial court on any valid legal ground presented by the record, regardless of whether that ground was considered, or even if it was rejected, by the trial court. Ex parte Ryals, 773 So.2d 1011 (Ala.2000), citing Ex parte Wiginton, 743 So.2d 1071 (Ala.1999), and Smith v. Equifax Servs., Inc., 537 So.2d 463 (Ala.1988). This rule fails in application only where due-process constraints require some notice at the trial level, which was omitted, of the basis that would otherwise support an affirmance, such as when a totally omitted affirmative defense might, if available for consideration, suffice to affirm a judgment, Ameriquest Mortgage Co. v. Bentley, 851 So.2d 458 (Ala.2002), or where a summary-judgment movant has not asserted before the trial court a failure of the nonmovant’s evidence on an element of a claim or defense and therefore has not shifted the burden of producing substantial evidence in support of that element, Rector v. Better Houses, Inc., 820 So.2d 75, 80 (Ala.2001) (quoting Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986), and Kennedy v. Western Sizzlin Corp., 857 So.2d 71 (Ala.2003)).”

Liberty Nat’l Life Ins. Co. v. University of Alabama Health Servs. Found., P.C., 881 So.2d 1013, 1020 (Ala.2003).

Discussion

As the summary-judgement movants, the defendants had the initial burden of [29]*29showing that there was no genuine issue of material fact concerning Helton’s claims and that they were entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.

The defendants’ first argument in their summary-judgment motion was that Helton was estopped from suing them based on the exclusivity provisions of the Alabama Workers’ Compensation Act, § 25-5-1 et seq., Ala.Code 1975. See §§ 25-5-52 and -53, Ala.Code 1975.

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64 So. 3d 25, 2010 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 322, 2010 WL 4371360, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/helton-v-brent-belcher-properties-ltd-alacivapp-2010.