Ex parte Interstate Freight USA, Inc.

Summary

The Alabama Supreme Court granted a petition for a writ of mandamus directing the Baldwin Circuit Court to transfer an employment-related breach-of-contract and fraud action to the St. Clair Circuit Court. The court held that the petitioners did not establish that venue was improper in Baldwin County because evidence of repeated deliveries there supported venue under Alabama's corporate-venue statute. However, the court concluded that the interest-of-justice prong of Alabama's forum non conveniens statute required transfer because the material events and witnesses were principally connected to St. Clair County.

Holdings

1. The petitioners failed to establish that venue in Baldwin County was improper. The evidence that the Interstate companies delivered 61 loads to Baldwin County during the approximately 54 weeks before suit supported a finding that they regularly did business there, and the petitioners did not provide evidence showing that the deliveries were isolated or concentrated in a short period.
2. The trial court exceeded its discretion by denying transfer. Because St. Clair County had a substantially stronger connection to the claims and Baldwin County had only a weak connection, the interest of justice required transfer to St. Clair Circuit Court.

Questions Presented

1. Whether venue was improper in Baldwin County because the Interstate companies did not do business by agent there at the commencement of the action.
2. Whether the interest-of-justice prong of Alabama's forum non conveniens statute required transfer of the action from Baldwin County to St. Clair County.

Disposition

writ_granted