Title: Ex parte VFJ Ventures, Inc., f/k/a VF Jeanswear, Inc. PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS (In re: G.Thomas Surtees, in his official capacity as commissioner of the Alabama Department of Revenue, and the Alabama Department of Revenue v. VFJ Ventures, Inc., f/k/a VF Jeanswear, Inc.)

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

REL: 09/19/2008
Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance
sheets of Southern Reporter.  Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions,
Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334)
229-0649), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made
before the opinion is printed in Southern Reporter.
SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA
SPECIAL TERM, 2008
_________________________
1070718
_________________________
Ex parte VFJ Ventures, Inc., f/k/a VF Jeanswear, Inc.
PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI
TO THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
(In re:  G. Thomas Surtees, in his official capacity as
commissioner of the Alabama Department of Revenue, and the
Alabama Department of Revenue
v.
VFJ Ventures, Inc., f/k/a VF Jeanswear, Inc.)
(Montgomery Circuit Court, CV-03-3172;
Court of Civil Appeals, 2060478)
LYONS, Justice.
1070718
2
VFJ Ventures, Inc., f/k/a VF Jeanswear, Inc. ("VFJ"),
sued in the Montgomery Circuit Court the commissioner of the
Alabama Department of Revenue, in his official capacity, and
the Alabama Department of Revenue.  At the time the complaint
was filed, Dwight Carlisle was the commissioner of the Alabama
Department of Revenue.  During the pendency of the case, G.
Thomas Surtees was substituted pursuant to Rule 25(d), Ala. R.
Civ. P., as a defendant, in his official capacity, when he
became the commissioner of the Alabama Department of Revenue.
Tim Russell is now the commissioner of the Alabama Department
of Revenue; he is now a defendant, in his official capacity,
pursuant to Rule 43(b), Ala. R. App. P.  (Russell and the
Alabama Department of Revenue will hereinafter be referred to
collectively as "the Department.")  The trial court entered a
judgment in favor of VFJ.  VFJ appealed to the Court of Civil
Appeals; that court reversed the judgment of the trial court
and remanded the case for the entry of a judgment in favor of
the Department.  Surtees v. VFJ Ventures, Inc., [Ms. 2060478,
February 8, 2008] ___ So. 2d ___ (Ala. Civ. App. 2008).  VFJ
then filed a petition for certiorari with this Court; we
granted certiorari review.  
1070718
Although Justice See did not sit for oral argument of
1
this case, he has viewed the video recording of that oral
argument.
3
After considering the record in this case, the briefs of
the parties and the amici curiae, the oral arguments of the
parties, and the opinion of the Court of Civil Appeals, we
agree with the views expressed by Presiding Judge Thompson in
his thorough and well reasoned opinion.  In light of that
thoughtful opinion, we see no need to explicate further.  We
affirm the judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals, and we
adopt Presiding Judge Thompson's opinion in its entirety, as
the opinion of this Court.  
AFFIRMED.  
Cobb, C.J., and See,  Woodall, Stuart, Smith, Bolin,
1
Parker, and Murdock, JJ., concur.