Alva Hugh Maddox

This case arose from a funeral home's mix-up of bodies after a car accident, resulting in the cremation of Matthew Miller's body instead of burial as requested by his wife Megan and mother Teresa. The Millers sued Akins Funeral Home for negligence, wantonness, outrage, breach of contract, trespass, and abuse of a corpse, settling with another funeral home but proceeding to trial against Akins, where a jury awarded them compensatory and punitive damages. On appeal, the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed the judgment, holding that the trial court properly allowed a non-psychologist witness to offer expert testimony, that the compensatory awards were not against the great weight of the evidence of emotional distress tied to religious beliefs, and that the punitive awards were not excessive under the Hammond/Green Oil factors.

torts & liabilityprocedure

The case concerned an oral contract for the sale of a mobile home and 4.86 acres of land for $110,000, under which the buyer was to assume two promissory notes and make a cash down payment, with closing to occur within about 30 days. The buyers sued for specific performance after the seller refused to close, also seeking incidental damages including lost profits from a planned mobile home sales venture. The trial court granted specific performance but, after reconsideration, denied the request for incidental damages. On appeal, the court affirmed, holding that a trial court has discretion to decide whether to award such damages in a specific performance action and that the claimed lost profits were too speculative given the new business venture and lack of prior records, consistent with prior precedent.

property

In Lee v. Minute Stop, Inc., plaintiff Douglas Lee sued multiple defendants including store clerk Twanda Nobles, corporate entities operating the store, and Mobile police officers after he was arrested for first-degree robbery based on an early-morning incident at a Conoco station; the charges were later dismissed at the preliminary hearing for lack of probable cause. Lee asserted claims for malicious prosecution, false arrest, defamation, negligence in training and supervision, wantonness, and abuse of process. The trial court granted summary judgment to all defendants, and the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the officers had probable cause to arrest Lee without a warrant for a felony under Ala. Code § 15-10-3(a)(3) because he was present with and did not disassociate from individuals who threatened the clerk, and that the officers' actions were therefore protected by discretionary-function immunity under § 6-5-338. The court also rejected the claims against the private defendants, finding no duty breached in reporting the events or identifying Lee.

criminal lawproceduretorts & liability

This case was a taxpayer lawsuit filed by Alabama resident Roger Broxton against Governor Don Siegelman and other state officials, challenging proposed landscaping changes to the state capitol grounds—including narrowing Bainbridge Street and altering slopes—as violating a statute that assigns primary restoration authority to the Alabama Historical Commission and seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. The defendants moved for summary judgment on standing grounds, submitting affidavits showing that all project funding came from federal Transportation Enhancement grants administered through state agencies, with suppliers paid by the Historical Commission and then reimbursed solely from federal sources and no state funds involved. The trial court granted summary judgment, and the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed, holding that Broxton lacked standing as a state taxpayer because no state moneys were being expended and that Alabama law does not recognize federal taxpayer standing to challenge state actions under state law.

taxesfederal powerprocedure

This case concerned the administration of Effie Roney Wilson's estate and whether a specific bequest in her will of CD Account #005-0001274 at First Bank of Dothan adeemed when she transferred the funds from that account into two new certificates of deposit with different numbers before her death. The legatee, Marguerite Bozian, sued the executrix, Sara Parker, seeking a declaration that the funds in the new accounts passed to her under the will. After a bench trial with conflicting evidence about the testatrix's reasons for the transfer, the trial court ruled for Bozian. The appellate court affirmed, holding that the funds remained traceable to the original account, the transfer was done to obtain better interest rates without intent to revoke the bequest, and therefore no ademption occurred.

property

This case concerns the probate of C.M. Smith's will, which devised a life estate in specific real property to his wife followed by particular divisions of the land among his siblings, with directions against selling it outside the family, but the successor executrix sought to sell the property because estate assets were insufficient to cover administration costs and debts. The trial court ordered the sale of the tract and equal distribution of net proceeds among the siblings' heirs. The appellate court affirmed the sale order in part but reversed the equal-distribution ruling, holding that specific devisees must contribute ratably to expenses according to the value of their respective interests rather than sharing proceeds equally, and remanded for proper valuation and allocation of shares while leaving certain unargued issues undisturbed.

propertyprocedure