Posted on December 7, 2007 by Madeline H. Haikala

Court Decides Question of First Impression in Workers' Comp Case

The Court of Civil appeals decided the following question of first impression in Burton & Assoc, Ltd. v. Morris, No. 2060802  (Ala. Civ. App. Nov. 30, 2007):  “when two states both have grounds for asserting jurisdiction over a claim for workers’ compensation benefits, do payments of compensation made to the injured worker under the laws of one of the states toll the statute of limitations as to a claim later filed in the other state?”

The Court found that section 25-5-80 of the Workers’ Compensation Act was ambiguous and held that the limitations provision does not “absolutely preclude[] the receipt of out-of-state benefits from ever tolling the Alabama statute of limitations."  Once an employer makes a preliminary showing that the plaintiff’s claim was made more than two years after the date of the accident, the burden shifts to the employee who must prove that the employer did something that tolled the statute of limitations on the employee’s claim for Alabama benefits.

Tags: , ,
Posted on December 5, 2007 by Madeline H. Haikala

Majority Reverses Mental Anguish Award for Breach of Employment Contract; Decides Question of First Impression

In Carraway Methodist Health Systems v. Wise, No. 1041483 (Ala. Nov. 30, 2007), a majority of the Alabama Supreme Court reversed a jury’s $500,000 mental anguish award for breach of an employment contract.  Although the trial court found the facts surrounding the breach sufficiently egregious to submit the damages issue to the jury, the majority of the Court found that the Wise case was not “’the case’ in which we should recognize the availability of mental-anguish damages arising out of a breach of an employment contract.”  Chief Justice Cobb dissented from this part of the opinion.

 

Chief Justice Cobb proposed that the Court adopt the framework that the Mississippi Supreme Court recently announced for awarding damages for mental anguish in a breach of contract case.  Chief Justice Cobb would have affirmed the award of damages for mental anguish in this case. 

 

The Court also addressed a question of first impression in Wise regarding the Alabama Nonprofit Act. 

 
Tags: , , , ,