Ex parte Alfa Mutual Insurance Company and Jeffery Dimoff (In re: Kinsman Investments, LLC v. Alfa Mutual Insurance Company and Jeffery Dimoff)

Summary

The Supreme Court of Alabama granted Alfa Mutual Insurance Company and Jeffery Dimoff’s petition for a writ of mandamus and directed the Mobile Circuit Court to enter summary judgment in their favor. The court held that the plaintiff’s fraud, fraudulent-suppression, bad-faith, and breach-of-contract claims were barred by the applicable statutes of limitations, and that the petitioners had no other adequate remedy. The opinion addresses the limited availability of mandamus review of an interlocutory denial of summary judgment based on statute-of-limitations grounds.

Holdings

1. Kinsman's fraud claim accrued no later than 2006, when Kinsman knew that different roofing materials had been used and was charged with knowledge of the policy's terms; the claim filed in 2022 was therefore barred by Alabama's two-year statute of limitations.
2. Kinsman's fraudulent-suppression claim was barred by the two-year statute of limitations because Kinsman had notice no later than 2006 of facts that would have prompted a reasonable inquiry into the policy's coverage.
3. Kinsman's bad-faith claim accrued no later than 2006 and was barred by Alabama's two-year statute of limitations.
4. Kinsman's breach-of-contract claim accrued when Alfa allegedly failed to pay the policy benefits in 2006 and was barred by Alabama's six-year statute of limitations.
5. Mandamus was appropriate to review the denial of summary judgment because Alfa and Dimoff established from the face of the complaint a clear legal right to judgment on statute-of-limitations grounds and demonstrated that neither a permissive interlocutory appeal nor an eventual appeal from a final judgment was an adequate remedy.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Alfa and Dimoff established from the face of Kinsman's complaint a clear legal right to summary judgment because Kinsman's fraud, fraudulent-suppression, bad-faith, and breach-of-contract claims were barred by the applicable statutes of limitations.
2. Whether mandamus was available despite the ordinary rule that denial of summary judgment is not reviewable by mandamus, because the defendants lacked another adequate remedy.
3. Whether the Supreme Court should direct the Mobile Circuit Court to vacate its order denying summary judgment and enter judgment for Alfa and Dimoff.

Disposition

writ_granted