Mobile County v. Mobile County Board of Health and Family Oriented Primary Health Care Clinic, Inc.

• Court: Supreme Court of Alabama
• Decided: April 21, 2023
• Docket: 1210313
• Status: Published

Opinion

Rel: April 21, 2023

Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-0650), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is printed in Southern Reporter.

SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA OCTOBER TERM, 2022-2023

_________________________

1210300 _________________________

Ex parte Walmart Inc. et al.

PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS

(In re: Mobile County Board of Health and Family Oriented Primary Health Care Clinic, Inc.

v.

Mitchell "Chip" Fisher et al.)

(Mobile Circuit Court: CV-19-902806) _________________________

1210313 _________________________ 1210300 and 1210313

Mobile County

Mobile County Board of Health and Family Oriented Primary Health Care Clinic, Inc.

Appeal from Mobile Circuit Court (CV-19-902806)

PER CURIAM.

1210300 -- PETITION DENIED. NO OPINION.

Parker, C.J., and Shaw, Wise, Bryan, Mendheim, Stewart, and Mitchell, JJ., concur.

Sellers, J., dissents, with opinion.

Cook, J., recuses himself.

1210313 -- AFFIRMED. NO OPINION.

See Rule 53(a)(1) and (a)(2)(F), Ala. R. App. P.

Parker, C.J., and Shaw, Wise, Bryan, Mendheim, Stewart, and Mitchell, JJ., concur.

2 1210300 and 1210313

SELLERS, Justice (dissenting).

The Mobile County Board of Health ("the Board") and Family

Oriented Primary Health Care Clinic, Inc. ("the Clinic"), commenced an

action in the Mobile Circuit Court against various opioid manufacturers,

opioid distributors, and pharmacies. The Board and the Clinic sought

relief because, they alleged, they had been impacted by an opioid crisis

allegedly created by the defendants. In case number 1210300, Walmart

Inc. and other defendants seek a writ of mandamus directing the trial

court to grant their motion for a judgment on the pleadings because, they

assert, Alabama's abatement statute, § 6-5-440, Ala. Code 1975, requires

dismissal of the action. Consistent with my dissent in Ex parte Cardinal

Health, Inc., [Ms. 1210337, Mar. 17, 2023] ___ So. 3d ___, ___ (Ala. 2023)

(Sellers, J., dissenting), I respectfully dissent from the Court's decision

today to deny the petition for a writ of mandamus. I also dissent from

the Court's decision in case number 1210313, an appeal that has been

consolidated with the referenced petition for a writ of mandamus, to

affirm the trial court's judgment denying Mobile County's motion to

intervene in the action. Based on my conclusion regarding the petition

for a writ of mandamus and the applicability of the abatement statute, I

3 1210300 and 1210313

would dismiss Mobile County's appeal as moot.