Hennis v. R.E. Garrison Trucking, Inc. (In re R.E. Garrison Trucking, Inc.)

241 So. 3d 15
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedJune 16, 2017
Docket2160556
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 241 So. 3d 15 (Hennis v. R.E. Garrison Trucking, Inc. (In re R.E. Garrison Trucking, Inc.)) 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
Hennis v. R.E. Garrison Trucking, Inc. (In re R.E. Garrison Trucking, Inc.), 241 So. 3d 15 (Ala. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

THOMPSON, Presiding Judge.

R.E. Garrison Trucking, Inc. ("Garrison"), petitions this court for a writ of mandamus directing the Washington Circuit Court ("the trial court") to vacate its order denying Garrison's motion for a change of venue and to enter an order transferring this workers' compensation action to the Cullman Circuit Court.

The materials submitted to this court in support of and in opposition to the petition indicate the following. According to the affidavit of James Hamm, the director of national accounts for Garrison, Garrison is a "primarily refrigerated truck-load carrier that transports food items between points in the United States." It is undisputed that Garrison's principal place of business is in Cullman County. In the underlying civil action, William D. Hennis alleged that he was an employee of Garrison when he suffered an on-the-job accident. The accident occurred in Cullman County. In its answer, Garrison acknowledged that Hennis injured his left shoulder in the accident.

Hennis also alleged in the complaint that he is a resident of Washington County. In support of its request for a change of venue, Garrison submitted documentary evidence, including Hennis's job application, which was completed in 2014, other employment documents, and medical forms completed in 2015, that showed Hennis's address to be in Semmes, which is in Mobile County. Garrison also submitted a certified copy of a page from the Alabama Secretary of State's voter-registration database showing that, in 2016, Hennis was registered to vote in Mobile County. The database also indicated that, from 1994 through 2000, Hennis had been registered to vote in Washington County.

Garrison also submitted evidence indicating that it did not do business in Washington County. In his affidavit, Hamm testified that he had reviewed Garrison's shipping and customer records for the previous 15 years and that Garrison had not delivered to or picked up a load from a single customer in Washington County. Hamm also said that, based on his review of personnel files for the same period, Garrison had not had any sales agents or company sales people who lived in Washington County.

In opposition to Garrison's submissions, Hennis submitted his affidavit and documentary evidence, including his pistol permit, his commercial driver's license, and vehicle registrations and loan documents completed in 2015, when he purchased a new vehicle, indicating that he lived in Chatom, in Washington County. In his affidavit, he stated that he had lived at the Chatom address for the past 15 years. He explained that, in 2014, he began using the Semmes address, where his former wife lived, for mailing purposes. He said that he lived alone at the Chatom address and that, because, he was gone for long periods driving for Garrison, he wanted "to be certain [he] got all [his] mail." He said that he could depend on his former wife to keep *18his mail together to ensure that he would not "miss anything important."

Hennis also explained that, after the work-related injury to his shoulders, he "had a lot of trouble taking care of [his] personal needs-bathing, dressing, eating, driving," and, therefore, he stayed with his former wife in Semmes so that she could assist him. He said that he returned to the Chatom address as soon as he was able.

Hennis also submitted evidence regarding the issue of whether Garrison did business in Washington County. In his affidavit, he testified that he was acting as Garrison's agent when he parked and stored Garrison tractors and trailers on property he owned in Washington County ("the Washington County property"). No evidence was presented as to what Hennis meant by "storing" the tractors or trailers, i.e., whether they were merely parked for a night or a weekend or for longer periods. Hennis said that the tractors and trailers that were parked on the Washington County property were driven not only by him but by other Garrison drivers. He claimed that officers of Garrison specifically approved of the arrangement.

Hennis further testified that, at the request of Wyles Griffith, the president of Garrison, he recruited drivers for the company. Hennis acknowledged that he did not have the "final authority over who was hired or not hired," but, he said, he did not recall ever having recommended a driver who was not hired.

In rebuttal to Hennis's evidence, Garrison submitted additional evidence to demonstrate that it did not do business in Washington County. A number of Garrison employees, including Griffith, testified by affidavit that, contrary to Hennis's assertions in discovery responses, they had not given Hennis permission to park his tractor and a Garrison trailer on Hennis's property in Washington County when he was not driving. One of those employees, Tim Brown, stated that Garrison allowed an independent contractor to park his or her tractor and trailer at the driver's home for his convenience if the driver was at home for the weekend. However, Brown said, doing so did not further Garrison's business because it "actually takes a [Garrison] trailer out of service for the weekend because another independent-contractor driver cannot hook up to it and pull it."

As to Hennis's assertion that he recruited drivers for Garrison, Jessica Bennett, the safety coordinator for Garrison, testified by affidavit that independent contract drivers are paid bonuses for drivers they recruit to Garrison, but only if those recruits drive for a certain length of time. The drivers Hennis recruited, Bennett said, did not drive for Garrison the requisite length of time. She testified that company records showed that Hennis had not received any recruiting bonuses.

After reviewing the submissions of the parties on the issue of a change of venue, the trial court on March 9, 2017, entered an order in which it found that Hennis had presented sufficient evidence to "clearly establish" that, at all times material to this action, he was a resident of Washington County. In the order, the trial court also stated that, although the facts relating to Hennis's agency relationship with Garrison were in dispute, it concluded that Garrison was doing business by agent in Washington County at the time of Hennis's work-related accident. Specifically, the trial court noted that Hennis used the Washington County property to store Garrison tractors and trailers for his use and for the use of other Garrison drivers. The trial court also noted that Garrison caused or allowed Hennis to recruit new drivers in Washington County. The trial court determined that both the storage of tractors *19and trailers and the recruitment of drivers were part of Garrison's business functions. Based on its conclusions, the trial court denied Garrison's motion for a change of venue. Garrison filed its petition for a writ of mandamus on April 19, 2017.

" ' "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. Lawler Mobile Homes, Inc. v. Tarver, 492 So.2d 297, 302 (Ala. 1986). 'Mandamus is a drastic and extraordinary writ, to be issued only where there is (1) a clear legal right in the petitioner 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) properly invoked jurisdiction of the court.'

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241 So. 3d 15, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hennis-v-re-garrison-trucking-inc-in-re-re-garrison-trucking-inc-alacivapp-2017.