Alabama Supreme Court Appellate Alert: Decisions from December 12, 2025

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The Alabama Supreme Court issued its weekly release list on Friday, December 12, which included the following opinions of interest to the Alabama business community:

• Ex parte Coosa Valley Medical Center: This case addressed pleading and amendment rules unique to medical-malpractice claims governed by the Alabama Medical Liability Act. The Act requires a plaintiff to plead his claims with specificity and, in language supplementing Rule 15’s provisions governing amendments generally, “amend his complaint timely upon ascertainment of new or different acts or omissions upon which his claim is based.” (Emphasis added.) The plaintiff in this case did not amend her complaint until more than a year after she gained knowledge of the basis for her new claims. The Court, in an opinion by Justice Cook, issued the writ of mandamus, holding that the amendment was not “timely” and thus due to be dismissed. Justice Mendheim concurred in the result, observing among other things that the Court’s opinion left open several questions about the AMLA’s timeliness requirement, including, “Is 12 months too long, or 6 months, or 3 months?” and, “When does the clock start ticking?”
• Shumate v. Berry Contracting: This case addressed the domestication of a Texas judgment under Alabama’s version of the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act. Ala. Code § 6-9-230, et seq. Berry obtained a multi-million dollar judgment against Shumate in Texas. While Shumate’s appeal of that judgment was pending in Texas, Berry Contracting domesticated the judgment in Alabama state court. The Supreme Court of Texas later reversed and remanded the Texas trial court’s decision. Shumate moved under Rule 60(b)(5), Ala. R. Civ. P., to obtain relief from the domesticated judgment. That Rule provides that a court may relieve a party from a judgment if “the judgment has been satisfied, released, or discharged, or a prior judgment upon which it is based has been reversed or otherwise vacated, or it is no longer equitable that the judgment should have prospective application.” The trial court denied the motion. The Supreme Court affirmed. The main opinion, authored by Justice Sellers, reasoned that Shumate failed to establish that Rule 60(b)(5) was the proper vehicle for challenging a domesticated judgment that has been reversed on appeal in another state. Justice Sellers’s opinion was joined by two Justices, with two more concurring in the result. Three Justices dissented. Justice Cook wrote a dissenting opinion, which was joined by Chief Justice Stewart. Justice Cook observed that a judgment no longer enforceable in Texas is now enforceable in Alabama, and he also contested the main opinion’s interpretation of Rule 60(b)(5).
• Hixon v. Premier Medical Group: This case addressed the rule precluding a principal from being held vicariously liable for torts committed by an agent if the agent has been dismissed “with prejudice.” The plaintiff sued both a doctor and his medical group but later acquiesced to the doctor’s motion to dismiss based on the statute of limitations. The trial court then granted the doctor’s motion to dismiss with prejudice. Later, due to the doctor’s dismissal, the trial court entered summary judgment for the group. In an opinion by Justice Cook, the Supreme Court affirmed, reasoning that in acquiescing to the dismissal with prejudice, the plaintiff had failed to expressly reserve his right to pursue a vicarious-liability claim against the group. Both Justice Cook and Justice Shaw wrote separate concurrences raising the possibility—which was not addressed by the parties to the appeal—that the dismissal of an agent “with prejudice” should not be preclusive of a claim against the principal if the dismissal was based on a non-merits defense such as the statute of limitations.

If you have questions about these decisions or want to discuss any other matters relating to Alabama appellate law, please do not hesitate to reach out to us or any other member of Maynard Nexsen’s Appellate Group.