Ex parte Safety-Kleen Systems, Inc., [Ms. 2120980, Dec. 13, 2013] ___ So. 3d ___ (Ala. Civ. App. 2013). The
Court of Civil Appeals grants mandamus ordering the circuit court to grant
a motion to transfer an action to district court. The plaintiff did not
specify an amount of damages other than saying that the recovery would
be less than $74,500 (obviously to avoid federal-court diversity jurisdiction).
The defendant filed an affidavit establishing that the special damages
of the plaintiff in one of the two actions would not exceed $88.60 and
the damages of the other plaintiff would not exceed $25.00. Defendant
pointed out that for punitive damages to take the award over the $3,000
jurisdictional maximum of the district court, the punitive damages would
have to be awarded at 33 times the compensatory damages in the first action
and 120 times the compensatory damages in the second action. Finding that
the plaintiffs did not rebut this showing, the Court of Civil Appeals
holds that the circuit court exceeded its discretion in delaying its ruling
on the motions to transfer for discovery purposes. "The circuit court
should have ruled based solely on the evidence before it, which evidence
conclusively proved that the amounts in controversy did not exceed $3,000
and that the motions to transfer were due to be granted."
