M & J MATERIALS, INC. v. Stanford D. ISBELL

153 So. 3d 1, 2010 WL 1837774, 2010 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 119
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedMay 7, 2010
Docket2080880
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 153 So. 3d 1 (M & J MATERIALS, INC. v. Stanford D. ISBELL) 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
M & J MATERIALS, INC. v. Stanford D. ISBELL, 153 So. 3d 1, 2010 WL 1837774, 2010 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 119 (Ala. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

PITTMAN, Judge.

M & J Materials, Inc. (“the employer”), appeals from the denial of its disposi-tive motions filed in an action in which a judgment entered on a jury verdict was rendered by the Jefferson Circuit Court in favor of Stanford D. Isbell (“the employee”) on his claim asserted under Ala.Code 1975, § 25-5-11.1, which provides, in pertinent part, that “[n]o employee shall be terminated by an employer solely because the employee has instituted or maintained an action against the employer to recover workers’ compensation benefits.” Because we agree with the employer that the employee failed to rebut the employer’s showing that its termination of the employee’s employment was based, in whole or in part, upon the employee’s reported open possession of a firearm on the employer’s [2]*2premises, we reverse the trial court’s judgment and remand the cause for the entry of a judgment in favor of the employer.

In February 2007, the employee brought an action against the employer and various fictitiously named defendants in the trial court seeking an award of benefits under the Alabama Workers’ Compensation Act, Ala.Code 1975, § 25-5-1 et seq. (“the Act”), based upon an alleged workplace wrist injury incurred on June 15, 2006. The employee further sought an award of compensatory damages for “mental anguish [and] lost wages” and “punitive damages” because, he. said, he made a claim for workers’ compensation benefits against the employer and his employment was thereafter terminated in violation of § 25-5-11.1. The employer filed an answer that denied liability and, as to the retaliatory-discharge claim, specifically averred that the employee’s employment had been terminated “for possession of and wielding a firearm within the workplace and property of’ the employer. The employee and the employer thereafter settled their differences as to the claim for disability benefits under the Act, leaving pending only the retaliatory-discharge claim. The employer filed a motion for a summary judgment as to the retaliatory-discharge claim, which motion the employee opposed; that motion was denied.

A trial was held on the retaliatory-discharge claim beginning on November 17, 2008, The employer’s motions for a judgment as a matter of law (“JML”) at the close of the employee’s evidence and at the close of all the evidence were denied. The trial court then instructed the jury on the applicable law, specifically noting, in pertinent part, that for the employee “to be entitled to recover punitive damages, you first must award compensatory damages[ ] or nominal damages.” The jury completed a round of deliberations and reached a verdict that purported to find in favor of the employee and to award $0 in compensatory damages and $75,000 in punitive damages. After the trial court and the employer’s counsel noted that the verdict was inconsistent, but before the jury was discharged, the trial court recalled the jury; reminded them that “[f|or a plaintiff to be entitled to recover punitive damages, you must first award compensatory damages or nominal damages”; and asked the jury to state “clearly what [its] intentions [we]re.” The trial court stated that “[i]f your intentions are to give no compensatory damages, you cannot give punitive damages,” but. added that “[i]f your intention is somehow to give punitive damages, the law supports punitive damages as long as there’s some reasonable finding or nominal finding of compensatory damages.” The jury then again deliberated and ultimately returned a verdict awarding $5,000 in compensatory damages and $70,000 in punitive damages; the trial court entered a judgment on that verdict on November 19, 2008, over the employer’s objection.

The employer filed a renewed motion for a JML on December 19, 2008, that (as supplemented) asserted that the employer was not liable to the employee as a matter of law; that the trial court had erred in rejecting the jury’s first verdict, reinstructing the jury regarding the nature of a proper damages award, and accepting the second verdict; and in failing to deem the punitive-damages award excessive under principles enunciated by the Alabama Supreme Court in Hammond v. City of Gadsden, 493 So.2d 1374 (Ala.1986), and Green Oil Co. v. Hornsby, 539 So.2d 218 (Ala.1989). The trial court entered an order on March 11, 2009, rejecting each of the grounds for relief recited in the employer’s renewed motion for a JML. Because the trial court had thereby adjudicated all claims against all parties, resulting in a final judgment [3]*3from which an appeal will lie, the employer properly and timely appealed, raising the same three issues that it had in its renewed motion for a JML. The Alabama Supreme Court transferred the appeal- to this court pursuant to Ala.Code 1975, § 12-2-7(6).

• In analyzing the three issues raised by the employer, we note that the first— whether the employee met his burden of proof as to his retaliatory-discharge claim so as to warrant denial of the employer’s motions for a JML — is of primary importance: if the trial court erroneously submitted the issues of the employer’s liability and the employee’s damages to the trier of fact, that error would warrant reversal of the judgment on the jury verdict and the direction to enter a judgment in favor of the employer on the retaliatory-discharge claim, thereby finally concluding the case. In contrast, the employer concedes in its appellate brief that its contentions regarding error in the trial court’s reinstructing the jury and accepting the jury’s second verdict would warrant the lesser relief of a new trial, after which the employer might again be held subject to liability, and that a determination that the punitive-damages award was excessive would, in the employer’s view, warrant only a remittitur of the excess damages.

The applicable standard of review as to the employer’s challenge to the trial court’s denial of its motions for a JML (more specifically, the employer’s motion for a JML at the close of all the evidence) was summarized by the Alabama Supreme Court:

“We apply the same standard of review to a ruling on a motion for a JML as the trial court used in initially deciding the motion. This standard is ‘indistinguishable from the standard by which we review a summary judgment.’ Hathcock v. Wood, 815 So.2d 502, 506 (Ala.2001). We must decide whether there was substantial evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, to warrant a jury determination. City of Birmingham v. Sutherland, 834 So.2d 755 (Ala.2002). In Fleetwood Enters., Inc. v. Hutcheson, 791 So.2d 920, 923 (Ala.2000), this Court stated that ‘ “[sjubstantial evidence is evidence 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.” ’ 791 So.2d at 923 (quoting West v. Founders Life Assurance Co. of Florida, 547 So.2d 870, 871 (Ala.1989)).”

Alabama Power Co. v. Aldridge, 854 So.2d 554, 560 (Ala.2002). Aldridge further summarized a number of substantive and procedural principles governing the propriety of a JML on a claim brought under § 25-5-11.1:

“In order for an employee to establish a prima facie case of retaliatory discharge the employee must show: 1) an employment relationship, 2) an on-the-job injury, 3) knowledge on the part of the employer of the on-the-job injury, and 4) subsequent termination of employment based solely upon the employee’s on-the-job injury and the filing of a workers’ compensation claim....
[[Image here]]

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

Related

M & J Materials, Inc. v. Isbell
153 So. 3d 24 (Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama, 2013)
M & J Materials, Inc. v. Isbell
153 So. 3d 8 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
153 So. 3d 1, 2010 WL 1837774, 2010 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 119, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/m-j-materials-inc-v-stanford-d-isbell-alacivapp-2010.