R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Cantley

717 So. 2d 751, 1998 WL 290288
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedJune 5, 1998
Docket1961972
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 717 So. 2d 751 (R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Cantley) 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
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Cantley, 717 So. 2d 751, 1998 WL 290288 (Ala. 1998).

Opinion

Pursuant to Rule 5, Ala.R.App.P., we granted the defendants, Lorillard Tobacco Company, Inc. ("Lorillard"), and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company ("Reynolds"), permission to appeal the trial court's interlocutory order granting a Rule 60, Ala.R.Civ.P., motion to set aside a summary judgment that it had entered against the plaintiff, Mikki Cantley, in her capacity as administratrix of the estate of her father, Harlon Godfrey. We reverse and remand.

This is the second time these parties have been before this Court. See Cantley v. Lorillard Tobacco Co., 681 So.2d 1057 (Ala. 1996), for a full explanation of the background of this litigation. For the purposes of this appeal, the following facts are pertinent: The *Page 752 plaintiff filed a wrongful death action against Lorillard and Reynolds on April 2, 1993, alleging that they had caused Godfrey's death; Godfrey had been a smoker. The plaintiff originally pleaded three causes of action — fraudulent suppression; liability under the Alabama Extended Manufacturer's Liability Doctrine ("AEMLD") for failure to warn of an unreasonable hazard; and liability under the AEMLD for design defect. Lorillard and Reynolds filed separate summary judgment motions on May 30, 1995, and July 7, 1995, respectively. Those motions were based on federal preemption grounds, relying on 15 U.S.C. § 1334(b) and Cipollone v.Liggett Group, Inc., 505 U.S. 504, 112 S.Ct. 2608,120 L.Ed.2d 407 (1992). Essentially, those summary judgment motions were based on the argument that all of the plaintiff's claims that were based on alleged tortious conduct committed on or after July 1, 1969, were preempted by the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act of 1969 ("the Labeling Act of 1969"), which amended the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965. The effective date of the Labeling Act of 1969 was July 1, 1969.

On July 17, 1995, before the trial court had ruled on the two pending summary judgment motions, Reynolds filed another motion for a summary judgment with respect to the plaintiff's claims that were based on alleged tortious conduct committed before July 1, 1969. Godfrey did not begin smoking Lorillard's brand of cigarettes until after July 1, 1969; therefore, Lorillard did not join in this motion. In support of the July 17 motion, Reynolds argued that, as a matter of law, cigarettes were not "defective" within the meaning of that term as it is used in the AEMLD. Following a hearing, the trial court, on November 21, 1995, granted Lorillard's May 30 summary judgment motion as to the plaintiff's fraudulent suppression and design defect claims. The trial court also granted Reynolds's July 7 summary judgment motion as to those two claims, to the extent that the plaintiff sought redress for alleged tortious conduct occurring on or after July 1, 1969. The plaintiff voluntarily dismissed her failure-to-warn claims, conceding that those claims were preempted under Cipollone. The claims alleging tortious conduct against Reynolds committed before July 1, 1969, remained pending. The trial court certified the November 21 summary judgment as final, pursuant to Rule 54(b), Ala.R.Civ.P.; the plaintiff appealed that judgment on January 3, 1996.

On March 4, 1996, the attorney for Lorillard and Reynolds wrote the following letter to the trial court, requesting that a hearing be set on Reynolds's July 17 summary judgment motion:

"Recently, I spoke with [the plaintiff's attorney1] concerning an issue in the above-styled action, and he and I agreed that I would write to bring this matter to your attention.

"As you may recall, this case is in a holding posture, pending the appeal which plaintiff has taken from the summary judgment granted in favor of Lorillard and R.J. Reynolds on the preemption issue. As the order dated November 21, 1995, reflects, the only remaining claims still before the court relate to acts which occurred prior to July 1, 1969.

"At the time the court heard and decided the preemption issue, we had already filed on behalf of R.J. Reynolds an additional motion for judgment on the pleadings, or in the alternative, summary judgment, and had submitted a memorandum of law in support thereof. Copies of both the motion and memorandum of law are included with this letter, for convenience of the court. In essence, this motion raises a narrow issue, one not controlled by any genuine factual issues, which would dispose of the remaining claims in the case. The sole issue raised by this motion is that cigarettes are not defective or unreasonably dangerous as a matter of law within the meaning of the Alabama Extended Manufacturer's Liability Doctrine.

"Our request and suggestion is that the court set this motion for hearing as soon as possible. If the court either grants or denies the motion, then an appeal could be *Page 753 immediately pursued and that appeal consolidated with the one presently before the Supreme Court. It makes sense to try and have all of these issues before the Supreme Court at one time, rather than on a piecemeal basis. This seems particularly true here where no additional discovery is required in order to bring this pending motion to a head.

"I do not believe that [the plaintiff's attorney] disagrees with this suggestion, and we are hopeful that the court will accommodate this request. Thank you very much for your cooperation and assistance."

(Emphasis in original.)

On March 29, 1996, the trial court granted Reynolds's July 17 summary judgment motion; however, the order it entered was based on preemption grounds — the same grounds on which Lorillard and Reynolds had based their May 30, 1995, and July 7, 1995, summary judgment motions. On April 23, 1996, the attorney for Lorillard and Reynolds wrote a letter to the plaintiff's attorney explaining that he thought the trial court's order had been mistakenly based on the wrong grounds:

"Following up on our telephone conversation last week, we need to get the most recent order granting summary judgment as to the remaining claims against R.J. Reynolds straightened out right away in order to make sure that the time to appeal, should plaintiff decide to do so, is stayed. I felt the safest way was to file a motion to alter and amend the order under Rule 59(e). Accordingly, enclosed is the motion which I propose to file, along with the proposed revised order.

"I am sending these to you in advance, as a matter of courtesy, in hopes that you can alert me if there is any kind of problem. Please call me to sign off on this at your earliest convenience. If you do not get back to me before Friday, I will assume that everything is okay and will get the motion filed."

In addition to that letter, the attorney for Lorillard and Reynolds also sent to the plaintiff's attorneys a proposed motion to alter or amend the March 29 judgment and a proposed revised order entering a summary judgment based on what Reynolds's attorney understood to be the proper grounds. On April 26, 1996, Reynolds filed the following motion to alter or amend the March 29 judgment:

"Defendant, R.J.

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Bluebook (online)
717 So. 2d 751, 1998 WL 290288, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rj-reynolds-tobacco-co-v-cantley-ala-1998.