PER CURIAM. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Southern Division ("the federal district court"), has certified to this Court the following question pursuant to Rule 18, Ala. R.App. P.: "Under Alabama law, is a `Potentially Responsible Party' (`PRP') letter from the Environmental Protection Agency (`EPA'), in accordance with the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (`CERCLA') provisions, sufficient to satisfy the `suit'...
PARKER, Justice. Anne Bates Gibbons appeals the Shelby Circuit Court's summary judgment in favor of the Town of Vincent ("the Town"), the planning commission of the Town of Vincent ("the planning commission"), 1 and White Rock Quarries, LLC ("White Rock") (hereinafter collectively referred to as "the appellees"). We affirm. Facts and Procedural History White Rock owns 888 acres of undeveloped land situated within the corporate limits of the Town ("the land") and 86 acres of undeveloped...
WISE, Justice. Dr. Stephen L. Wallace, the plaintiff/counterclaim-defendant below, appeals from a summary judgment of the Jefferson Circuit Court in favor of Belleview Properties Corporation, IPF/Belleview Limited Partnership ("IPF"), HR/Belleview, L.P., and Infinity Property Management Corporation (hereinafter referred to collectively as "the defendants"). We dismiss the appeal. Facts and Procedural History In August 1991, Wallace leased office space in the Belleview Shopping Center in...
WOODALL, Justice. S & M, LLC, d/b/a Huntsville Cab Company ("Huntsville Cab"), petitioned this Court for certiorari review of the decision of the Court of Civil Appeals affirming a judgment in favor of Kevin Burchel, as personal representative of the estate of Roy William Burchel ("the estate"), on Huntsville Cab's claim against the estate damages for loss of use of a commercial vehicle. This Court granted Huntsville Cab's petition for certiorari review to consider whether the measure-of-...
STUART, Justice. MTA, Inc., appeals the order of the Madison Circuit Court holding that MTA's claims against Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., a division of Bank of America Corporation ("Merrill Lynch"), were subject to an arbitration agreement and compelling MTA to arbitrate those claims. We reverse and remand. I. On January 21, 1994, MTA entered into a deferred-compensation agreement ("the DCA") with its employee, Yvonne Sanders. Pursuant to the terms of the DCA, MTA was...
STUART, Justice. The Housing Authority of the Birmingham District ("HABD") appeals the judgment entered by the Jefferson Circuit Court awarding Logan Properties, Inc., $350,000 on its inverse-condemnation claim against HABD, as well as an additional $100,000 for litigation expenses, and awarding the intervening plaintiff Alamerica Bank $10,000 for litigation expenses. We reverse and remand. I. Logan Properties is a real-estate and property-management company that purchases, renovates,...
MAIN, Justice. WRIT QUASHED. NO OPINION. MALONE, C.J., and STUART, BOLIN, PARKER, and WISE, JJ., concur. MURDOCK and SHAW, JJ., dissent. MURDOCK, Justice (dissenting). In 2007, Newport Television, LLC, purchased from Clear Channel Broadcasting, Inc., the assets and operations of two television stations at which Cyndi Booth was employed. In conjunction with her employment, Booth and Clear Channel had entered into a noncompetition agreement. This case involves a dispute between Newport and...
STUART, Justice. The State of Alabama Department of Revenue ("the Department") petitioned this Court for a writ of certiorari to review the Court of Civil Appeals' no-opinion affirmance of the circuit court's judgment awarding HealthSouth Corporation and related entities (hereinafter referred to collectively as "HealthSouth") refunds of Alabama income tax it had overpaid for the 1996, 1997, and 1998 tax years and awarding interest on those refunds. See State Dep't of Rev. v. HealthSouth Corp....
SHAW, Justice. Jeff Snider ("Jeff"), as administrator of the estate of Thelma June Smith Snider ("Thelma"), deceased, the plaintiff below, appeals from the trial court's dismissal of his complaint against Marquita S. Morgan ("Morgan"), both as executrix of the estate of Troy Ray Snider ("Troy"), deceased, and on behalf of the estate of Harold Snider ("Harold"), deceased, and First Bank of Boaz ("First Bank"), the defendants below, for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted....
WOODALL, Justice. James Stanley Wilbanks appeals from a summary judgment for United Refractories, Inc. ("United"), a company supplying equipment used in the repair of coke-oven batteries, in Wilbanks's action against United seeking damages for personal injuries he sustained from an explosion involving a ceramic welding machine ("the welder") supplied to Wilbanks's employer by United. We affirm. I. Factual and Procedural Background The relevant evidence viewed, as it must be, in a light most...
PARKER , Justice . Anthony Ray Hinton petitioned the Jefferson Circuit Court ("the circuit court") for relief under Rule 32, Ala. R.Crim. P., arguing that his trial counsel had provided ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to provide a qualified expert in his defense at his capital-murder trial. The circuit court denied Hinton's Rule 32 petition on the basis that Andrew Payne, the expert retained by defense counsel, was qualified to testify as a firearms-identification expert at...
PER CURIAM. Southeast Construction, L.L.C. ("SEC"), appeals from the entry by the Tuscaloosa Circuit Court of judgment on an arbitration award. WAR Construction, Inc. ("WAR"), has filed a cross-appeal — which we treat as a petition for a writ of mandamus — challenging the circuit court's refusal to enforce the judgment. I. Facts and Procedural History On July 12, 2007, SEC and WAR entered into a construction contract pursuant to which WAR, as the general contractor, agreed to build a...
STUART, Justice. The Alabama Department of Corrections ("ADOC"), the Alabama Corrections Institution Finance Authority ("ACIFA"), and Kim Thomas, in his official capacities as the commissioner of ADOC and as ex officio vice president of ACIFA, petition this Court for a writ of mandamus directing the Montgomery Circuit Court to vacate its May 17, 2012, order denying their motion seeking a partial summary judgment and to enter a new order granting the motion. We grant the petition as it relates...
MAIN, Justice. East Alabama Medical Center ("EAMC") petitions this Court for a writ of mandamus directing the Randolph Circuit Court to transfer the action filed against it by John Tinney to the Lee Circuit Court. For the reasons set out below, we grant the petition and issue the writ. I. Factual Background and Procedural History Tinney represented Jerry Benefield in a personal-injury action arising out of a motor-vehicle accident. Benefield was treated at EAMC for injuries he sustained in...
MAIN, Justice. BancorpSouth Bank ("the Bank") petitions this Court for a writ of mandamus directing the trial court to vacate its order denying the Bank's motion to strike the jury demand in the complaint filed against it by Thomas L. Busby and to enter an order granting the Bank's motion, thereby enforcing Busby's waiver of a jury trial. We grant the petition and issue the writ. I. Factual Background and Procedural History Busco, LLC, a limited-liability company of which Busby was a...
STUART, Justice. Braden Furniture Company, Inc., appeals a summary judgment for Union State Bank. We affirm. Facts and Procedural History According to Braden Furniture, between 2003 and 2010, Bonnie Manning, an assistant bookkeeper for Braden Furniture, accessed Braden Furniture's accounting program and created over 200 unauthorized checks, totaling over $470,000, that she then deposited in her account at Union State Bank. The majority of the checks did not identify a payee, i.e., the payee...
WOODALL, Justice. The Boys & Girls Clubs of South Alabama, Inc. ("the Club"), a nonprofit corporation, appeals from a judgment in favor of the Fairhope-Point Clear Rotary Youth Programs, Inc. ("Rotary Inc."), and the Ruff Wilson Youth Organization, Inc. ("Wilson Inc."), in their action against the Club seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. We vacate the judgment and dismiss the case and the appeal. I. Factual and Procedural Background The dispositive facts are undisputed. The Club,...
STUART, Justice. Howard M. Schramm, Jr., appeals the March 6, 2012, judgment of the Baldwin Circuit Court approving pier-construction permits issued to Schramm's neighbors, George G. Spottswood and Amy H. Spottswood, by the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources ("DCNR") and Baldwin County even though the proposed pier would violate the 10-foot setback rule in the applicable DCNR and Baldwin County rules and regulations (appeal no. 1110794). The Spottswoods cross-appeal the...
SHAW, Justice. The petitioners, George D. Green and Wanda Green, the plaintiffs in a personal-injury action pending in the Monroe Circuit Court, petition for a writ of mandamus directing that court to vacate its order transferring the underlying action to the Conecuh Circuit Court. We grant the petition and issue the writ. Facts and Procedural History The complaint seeks damages for assault and battery; it alleges that the defendants Paul Battle and Garth Morris "shot[] [George] with a...
WOODALL, Justice. Black Warrior Electric Membership Corporation ("Black Warrior") appeals from a judgment entered on a jury verdict for Ronald McCarter in McCarter's action seeking compensation for injuries he sustained when he contacted a power line owned and operated by Black Warrior. We reverse and remand. I. Factual and Procedural Background This case arose out of an accident that occurred September 14, 2006, on State Highway 14 ("the highway") approximately one mile south of the...
