In Riley v. Pate, Ms. 1071003 (Ala. July 3, 2008) , the Alabama Supreme Court held that a taxpayer did not have standing to bring suit challenging where the proceeds of the State's judgment against Exxon in the gas royalty dispute would be placed. For more information, click on the link to the article entitled "Alabama court sides with Riley in budget dispute" from the AP via al.com.
In Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker, No. 07-216 (June 25, 2008), the United States Supreme Court cut the punitive damage award against Exxon arising out of the Exxon Valdez oil spill from $2.5 billion to approxinmately $500 million, and provided further guidance for the review of punitive damage awards.
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In Jones v. Alfa Mutual Ins. Co., Ms. 1060179 (Ala. June 13 2008), the Alabama Supreme Court reversed a trial court's ruling that Alfa did not act in bad faith in its handling of an insurance claim arising from Hurricane Opal in October 1995. The Supreme Court sent the case back for a trial on "abnormal" bad faith based on failure to investigate and breach of contract. For more information, follow the link to "Alabama Supreme Court reverses decision in Hurricane Opal lawsuit" from the Mobile Press-Register.
The Alabama Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in Birmingham on a case brought by several businesses against the City of Hoover and the City of Vestavia for claims arising from the flooding of Patton Creek. In Royal Automotive, Inc. v. City of Vestavia and City of Hoover, Ms. 1061313, 1071152 (Ala. May 23, 2008) , the Supreme Court affirmed the summary judgment in favor of Hoover and Vestavia. Click the link for an article on the case entitled"State Supreme Court upholds dismissal of Patton Creek flooding case" from the Birmingham News.
The Birmingham News has an interesting article about recent statistics on the caseload at the Alabama Supreme Court. Click the link for the article entitled "Alabama Supreme Court releases data: Fewer cases, decisions take longer."
The Alabama Supreme Court and the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals heard oral arguments today at Samford University in Birmingham. Here is a link to an article about the arguments entitled "Students Watch the Alabama Supreme Court in Action" from myfoxal.com.
The Alabama Supreme Court and the Court of Civil Appeals will hear oral arguments in a special session at the Leslie Wright Center at Samford University beginning at 9:00 a.m. on April 17, 2008. For a review of the cases which will be argued, follow the link to the article "Alabama Supreme Court to hear appeal of Patton Creek flooding dispute in session at Samford University" from the Birmingham News.
The Alabama House of Representatives passed a bill that would require appellate judges to have 10 years of experience practicing law before they can serve on an Alabama appellate court. Click the link for an article on this bill titled "House passes bill to require minimum qualifications for judges" from the AP, via al.com.
On April 17, 2008, the Alabama Supreme Court and the Court of Civil Appeals will hear oral arguments in Birmingham, Alabama. The arguments will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon at the Wright Center at Samford University, 800 Lakeshore Drive, Birmingham, Alabama 35229. The arguments are free and open to the public, so it is a great opportunity to see our appellate courts in action.
The United States Supreme Court heard oral argument on a case arising out of Alabama involving voting rights. The dispute centers around the authority of the Governor to appoint someone to a vacant seat on a County Commission rather than have a special election. Click the links for articles on this case:
"High Court Tackles Ala. Voting Case" - AP
"Supreme Court hears Alabama appeal" - Montgomery Advertiser
We are very saddened by the passing of Judge Sam C. Pointer, Jr. Judge Pointer passed away the morning of March 15, 2008 at the age of 73.
Judge Pointer served as a United States District Court Judge for the Nothern District of Alabama for 30 years and rightfully earned the reputation as one of the nation's top jurists. He joined Lightfoot, Franklin & White after his retirement from the bench in the year 2000, and we were proud to call him a colleague and a friend.
For more information on Judge Pointer, please follow the link to "Lightfoot, Franklin & White Mourns the Loss of Judge Sam C. Pointer, Jr."
The Alabama Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case alleging bad faith in the handling of an insurance claim arising out of Hurricane Opal. To read about the oral argument, click on the article entitled "Supreme Court questions lawyers."
Former Alabama Supreme Court Justice J. Gorman Houston, Jr. will receive the Brewer-Torbert Public Service Award this week. Following are some articles on Justice Houston and the award:
"Houston to receive service award" from the Montgomery Advertiser.
"Houston will receive award" from the Eufaula Tribune.
We are proud to say that, after leaving the bench, Justice Houston became a partner at Lightfoot, Franklin & While, LLC.
In Ex parte Sacha Baron Cohen, [Ms. 1061288] (Ala. Jan. 18, 2008), the Alabama Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion, vacated the trial court's order denying the motion to dismiss filed by Sacha Baron "Borat" Cohen and other defendants. The suit arose from the Plaintiff's participation in the film "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit of Glorious Kazakhstan." The Plaintiff, an etiquette teacher featured in the film, signed a forum selection clause providing that any suit must be filed in New York.
The trial court had declared the forum selection clause invalid pursuant to Alabama's "door closing" statute because one of the signatories was not qualified to do business in Alabama. The Supreme Court vacated the order, and held that the "door closing" statute did not apply because the transaction (i.e. the film) involved interstate commerce. Therefore, the forum selction clause was valid.
Mr. Cohen and other defendants were represented by William Brooks, Banks Sewell and Gray Borden of Lightfoot, Franklin & White, LLC.
Click the links for news articles on this opinion:
"'Borat' Actors Wins Ala. Case Over Movie" - AP
"Borat has last laugh after lawsuit fails" - Sydney Morning Herald
"Court Backs Borat" - New York Times
Our own Madeline Haikala has a great article published in this Month's The Alabama Lawyer magazine. The article is entitled "Pavilion Development, LLC v. JBJ Partnership: The Court's Struggle With Waiver." The article discussed the recent Pavillion Development case and what it means to the appellate practitioner considering issues of waiver in the Alabama courts. Click here for a link to this interesting article.
Follow the link to an article from the Decatur Daily discussing Chief Justice Cobb's plans for changing judicial elections: "Changing method of electing judges"
Chief Justice Cobb spoke out against negative judicial campaigning in a recent talk to the Centre Rotary Club, according to this article from the Cherokee County Herald.
As we reported yesterday, the Alabama Supreme Court issued its opinion in Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Ms. 1031167 (Ala. Nov. 1, 2007), in which the Court struck the $3.5 billion punitive damage award in its entirety, and reduced the breach of contract award by approximately $11.8 million.
Follow the links for articles on this opinion...
"Exxon Wins $3.5 Billion Appeal in Alabama Fees Case" - Bloomberg
"$3.6 billion ruling rejected" - Birmingham News
"Ala. Court Cuts $3.6B Verdict Vs. Exxon" - AP
Today, in one of the more high profile cases before the Court, the Alabama Supreme Court issued its opinion in Exxon's appeal of a multi-billion dollar judgment against it in favor of the State. In ExxonMobil Corp. v. Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Ms. 1031167 (Ala. Nov. 1, 2007), the Supreme Court, in an 8-1 opinion with several concurrences, struck the $3.5 billion punitive damage award in its entirety, and reduced the breach of contract award from $63.8 million to $51.9 million. The opinion was authored by Justice Parker. Chief Justice Cobb dissented, stating that she would affirm a portion of the punitive damage award.
ExxonMobil's appeal was handled, along with others, by Lightfoot, Franklin and White attorneys Sam C. Pointer, Jr., Samuel H. Franklin, and M. Christian King. Sam Franklin and Chris King argued the case before the Alabama Supreme Court.
Here is an interesting profile of Chief Justice Cobb which was recently published in the Anniston Star.
In an 80 page opinion, the Alabama Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the jury's finding of liability, but remitted the verdict fromn $5.5 million to $3 million by a 5-4 majority. Mobile Infirmary Association v. Tyler, No. 104184 (Sept. 14, 2007). Click here for an article on this interesting opinion.
In comments made to the Birmingham Rotary Club yesterday, Chief Justice Cobb called for PAC money to be banned in court races. Click here for an article from the Birmingham News abouther comments.
State Finance Director Jim Main is considering running for Justice See's spot on the Supreme Court according to this article.
The general election is over a year away, but Justice See's announcement that he will not seek re-election is already placing the 2008 election in the news. Here are some recent articles on the upcoming election:
"See only appellate judge planning to retire"
"With See out, Alabama may have another costly Supreme Court race"
Justice See will be participating in a panel discussion regarding the legislative response to the selection of state court judges at the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures ("NCSL") to be held in Boston. The panel discussion is scheduled to take place Thursday, August 9, 2007 at the Boston Convention & Exhibit Center. Click here for the NCSL press release regarding the panel discussion.
Alabama Supreme Court Justice Harold See will not seek re-election in 2008, according to this article from the Mobile Press-register.
Chief Justice Cobb spoke at the State Bar this weekend. Here is an article entitled "Chief Justice Calls For Judicial Reform" about her comments.
In exchange for 150 parking spaces to be used by the Attorney General's office, the Retirement Systems of Alabama will take over the old Supreme Court building and convert it to office space. See these articles headlined "State swaps old high court building for parking" from the Montgomery Advertiser and "Deal saves old Alabama Supreme Court building" from the AP.
Here are the new phone and fax numbers for the Alabama appellate courts:
Alabama Supreme Court: Phone (334) 229-0700; Fax (334) 229-0522
Alabama Court of Civil Appeals: Phone (334) 229-0733, Fax (334) 229-0530
Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals: Phone (334) 229-0751; Fax (334) 229-0521
The topic of how Alabama appellate judges are selected alweays creates controversy and strong opinions. Here is an editorial entitled "The Squeeze: Alabama's no-holds-barred system of electing appeals court judges puts pressure where it doesn't belong" by Daniel J. Meador, Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Virginia and former Deal of the Alabama Law School (1966-1970) giving his take on the issue.
The Alabama State Bar Annual Meeting will be held July 18-21 in Point Clear, Alabama. Click here for an ariticle on the upcoming meeting and some of its speakers.
In Boyd Brothers v. State Department of Revenue, Case No. 2050675, the Court of Civil Appeals held that Boyd Brothers, and Alabama company, did not have to pay Alabama sales tax on a truck purchased in Ohiom delivered in Ohio, and was primarily used out of state. Click here for an article from the Montgomery Advertiser on this ruling.
As we stated yesterday, the Alabama Supreme Court heard arguments in the cases where the plaintiff's seek to stop the state from giving the driver's licence test in multiple languages, and instead require the state to give the test only in English. Here is an article on how that argument went.
Today, the Alabama Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in a case to decide whether Alabama must give its driver's license exams in multiple languages or only in English. Here is an article about the case.
Alabama is always mentioned when the high cost of judicial elections is raised, and this article from ABC News is no exception. The article talks about the Alabama elections and contains comments from Chief Justice Cobb on the issue.
The United States Supreme Court declined to review the recent Alabama case Cline v. Ashland, in which the Alabama Supreme Court reaffirmed Alabama law that the statute of limitations in a toxic exposure case begins to run at the time of exposure, even if the person exposed does not know of the alleged illness. Click here for an article on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision.
In Ex parte Novartis Pharmaceutical Corp., the Alabama Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the State's claims against 73 pharmaceutical companies must be severed. The State sued, in one action, the 73 companies alleging overcharges to the Alabama Medicaid Agency. The Supreme Court granted the companies' petition for writ of mandamus and held that the cases did not arise from the same transaction or series of transactions, and thus must be severed. Click here for the AP report on this decision.
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