Carr v. International Refining & Manufacturing Company, No. 1070770 (Ala. 11/13/2008)
Decision Date | 13 November 2008 |
Docket Number | No. 1070770.,1070770. |
Parties | Bell Carr, Jr., et al. v. International Refining & Manufacturing Company d/b/a IRMCO et al. |
Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Appeal from Fayette Circuit Court (CV-03-142).
The appellants in this action ("the former employees") are several hundred former employees of Arvin Industries d/b/a Arvin-Meritor, Inc. ("Arvin"). The former employees sued Arvin and several of their co-employees, alleging that they had suffered injuries as a result of exposure to toxic chemicals while employed by Arvin. Through an amended complaint, the former employees added 64 other named defendants ("the new defendants"), who they alleged manufactured or sold Arvin the chemicals and equipment that injured the former employees. The former employees appeal from the Fayette Circuit Court's dismissal of their claims against the new defendants. We reverse and remand.
This is the second time this case has come before this Court. See Ex parte International Refining & Mfg. Co., 972 So. 2d 784 (Ala. 2007)("International Refining"). In International Refining, we described the facts and procedural background as follows:
Regarding wantonness, the former employees alleged in count 6 of the first amended complaint that the new defendants had "wantonly engineered, designed, developed, configured, manufactured, assembled, distributed, and/or sold the chemicals" and other products that the former employees were exposed to through their work at Arvin. The former employees also alleged in count 13 that 5 of the new defendants had "wantonly engineered, designed, ... manufactured, ... sold, inspected or consulted regarding the design, engineering, manufacturing, production, distribution and/or warnings associated with" the equipment used in Arvin's manufacturing process.
International Refining, 972 So. 2d at 787-88 (footnote omitted).
This Court granted the new defendants' petition and issued the writ of mandamus. We concluded in International Refining that the claims the former employees stated against the new defendants in the first amended complaint did not relate back to the claims they stated against the fictitiously named defendants identified in their original complaint. 972 So. 2d at 791. Because the first amended complaint was filed in May 2005, three years after the former employees' last possible exposure to the allegedly toxic chemicals, any new claims stated in that complaint, which were subject to a two-year statutory limitations period, see § 6-2-38(l), Ala. Code 1975, were time-barred and due to be dismissed. 972 So. 2d at 791.
We noted in International Refining that the former employees argued "that some of their claims nonetheless survive, because, they say, those claims fall within a six-year statute of limitations." 972 So. 2d at 791. See § 6-2-34, Ala. Code 1975. However, we declined to reach the question whether a six-year statute of limitations applied to any of the former employees' claims against the new defendants, stating:
972 So. 2d at 791. Therefore, we "reverse[d] the trial court's order denying the motions to dismiss, or for a summary judgment, and we remand[ed] the case for further proceedings, including a determination of the extent to which any claims are timely, without the availability of the relation-back doctrine." 972 So. 2d at 791.
On remand, the new defendants filed motions to dismiss or, in the alternative, for a summary judgment, on the ground that all the claims asserted against them were subject to the two-year limitations period stated in § 6-2-38(l), Ala. Code 1975, and were due to be dismissed pursuant to this court's decision in International Refining. The former employees responded, arguing that their wantonness claims involved trespass to the person and, under McKenzie v. Killian, 887 So. 2d 861 (Ala. 2004), were subject to the six-year limitations period stated in § 6-2-34(1), Ala. Code 1975. The former employees conceded that their other claims against the new defendants were subject to the two-year limitations period and, without the availability of the relation-back doctrine, were due to be dismissed.
On August 16, 2007, the former employees amended their complaint a second time. The second amended complaint stated that it was "intended to clarify the allegations contained in the Complaint and the First Amended Complaint in the wake of [International Refining]." It also stated that "no new plaintiffs or defendants [were] added by way of [the] amendment" and that "all claims stated [therein arose] out of the conduct, transaction, or occurrences set forth in the First Amended Complaint [and] no new causes of action [were] stated by way of [the] amendment." The second amended complaint asserted only a workers' compensation claim against Arvin, a wantonness claim against the new defendants, and a separate wantonness claim against five of the new defendants who the former employees alleged had provided the equipment Arvin used in its manufacturing process.1
The wantonness claim asserted against the new defendants in the second amended complaint stated, in relevant part:
"[The new defendants] acted willfully and/or wantonly, and committed trespass to the persons of the former employees, in that the said defendants consciously acted or omitted to act, and in that they willfully and wantonly engineered, designed, developed, configured, manufactured, assembled, distributed and/or sold [the chemicals and other products] that resulted in physical impact to the persons of the former employees and injured the former employees, and in that the defendants acted or omitted a duty, while knowing of the existing conditions and being conscious that, from doing or omitting to do an act, injury would likely or probably result to the former employees, in reckless or conscious disregard of the rights or safety of the former employees."
The wantonness claim asserted against the five new defendants who the former employees alleged had provided equipment to Arvin stated similar allegations.
The new defendants moved to strike the second amended complaint. However, the trial court did not rule on the motion to strike. Instead, the trial court concluded in its eventual ruling on the new defendants' motions to dismiss that, because the second amended complaint purported to state no new cause of action and to arise out...
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