Title: Ex Parte Norfolk Southern Ry. Co.
Citation: 816 So. 2d 469
Docket Number: 1990361
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: October 5, 2001

816 So. 2d 469 (2001)
Ex parte NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY.
(Re Edward Dawson v. Norfolk Southern Railway Company [and 12 other cases[1]]).
1990361.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
October 5, 2001.
Crawford S. McGivaren, Jr., Steve A. Tucker, and John M. Graham of Cabaniss, Johnston, Gardner, Dumas &amp; O'Neal, Birmingham, for petitioner.
J. William Lewis and Martin K. Berks of Environmental Litigation Group, P.C., Birmingham, for respondents.
JOHNSTONE, Justice.
Norfolk Southern Railway Company petitions this Court for a writ of mandamus directing Circuit Judge J. Scott Vowell to *470 vacate his order granting a purported petition to perpetuate the testimony of Dr. Max Rogers for use in 44 prospective, unfiled cases pursuant to Rule 27, Ala. R. Civ. P. We grant the petition and issue the writ.
Norfolk Southern is the defendant in 13 cases pending in the Jefferson County Circuit Court before Judge Vowell. Each plaintiff in these 13 pending cases is a former Norfolk Southern employee who sued Norfolk Southern pursuant to the Federal Employers' Liability Act ("FELA") on the theory that workplace negligence by Norfolk Southern had caused the plaintiff to develop an asbestosis-related disease. Judge Vowell consolidated the cases for discovery. All of these 13 plaintiffs are represented by the same counsel.
On or about July 15, 1999, plaintiffs' counsel noticed the deposition of Dr. Max Rogers for July 27, 1999. Dr. Rogers, a resident of North Carolina, was the ailing 83-year-old former chief surgeon and medical director of Norfolk Southern. The purpose of the deposition was to establish the knowledge, precautions, and omissions of Norfolk Southern in its use of asbestos.
By letter dated July 22, 1999, defense counsel told plaintiffs' counsel that Dr. Rogers's health would not permit him to testify on the scheduled July 27 date but would permit him to testify on August 24, 1999. Thus, the parties rescheduled the deposition to August 24.
According to Norfolk Southern,
Petition of Norfolk Southern, p. 3 n. 2 (boldface in original; emphasis added). On August 19, five days before the rescheduled date of Dr. Rogers's deposition, plaintiffs' counsel filed, in these 13 pending cases, what purported to be a Rule 27, Ala. R. Civ. P., petition (hereinafter, "the Rule 27 petition") to use the impending deposition of Dr. Rogers to perpetuate his testimony for use in 44 more, similar FELA cases not yet filed but anticipated to be filed.[2] Plaintiffs' counsel did not notify defense counsel of the actual filing of the Rule 27 petition except by mail, which *471 defense counsel did not receive until after the August 24 taking of Dr. Rogers's deposition. At the deposition the parties' counsel asked Dr. Rogers questions about the knowledge, facilities, equipment, acts, and omissions of Norfolk Southern pertinent to its use and handling of asbestos but asked no questions about any particular plaintiffs employment or exposure.
After Dr. Rogers's August 24 deposition, Judge Vowell heard the Rule 27 petition to perpetuate the testimony for use in the 44 prospective, unfiled cases. At the hearing, Norfolk Southern objected, as it does here, on three grounds. First, the deposition had "already taken place in other actions," the 13 pending cases. That is, the trial court could not grant the Rule 27 petition retroactively. Second, the Rule 27 petition had not been verified. Third, the 44 prospective plaintiffs had not shown why they could not have filed their actions before the deposition. Judge Vowell, however, granted the Rule 27 petition. In his order he found, among other findings:
Norfolk Southern petitions us for a writ of mandamus directing Judge Vowell to vacate this order. Norfolk Southern objects to the use of the August 24 deposition in the 44 anticipated cases. Norfolk Southern does not object to the use of the deposition in the 13 pending cases.
Ex parte Bruner, 749 So. 2d 437, 439 (Ala. 1999) (quoting Ex parte McNaughton, 728 So. 2d 592, 594 (Ala.1998)).
Rule 27, Ala. R. Civ. P., provides, in pertinent part:
The first ground of objection advanced by Norfolk Southern, that the trial judge could not grant the Rule 27 petition retroactively, is logical. The second and third grounds, lack of verification and lack of a showing of the 44 prospective plaintiffs' inability to file suit before discovery, are true. On the other hand, the 44 prospective plaintiffs argue that Norfolk Southern does not demonstrate or even argue that it has suffered or will suffer prejudice from Judge Vowell's order.
This dispute, however, is eclipsed by a more profound defect in the petition filed and procedure pursued by the 44 prospective plaintiffs. We are obliged to recognize an absence of subject-matter jurisdiction obvious from a record, petition, or exhibits to a petition before us. Nunn v. Baker, 518 So. 2d 711 (Ala.1987).
Rule 27, authorizing discovery before the filing of a complaint, requires that the petitioner file an independent action for relief. 6 James W. Moore et al., Moore's Federal Practice § 27.02[3] (3d ed.1997). Absent filing of the independent action, the trial court acquires no jurisdiction to grant the relief sought. See DeGas, Inc. v. Midland Res., 470 So. 2d 1218 (Ala.1985). Cf. Boshell v. Lay, 596 So. 2d 581, 583 (Ala.1992). An order issued by a trial court without jurisdiction is a nullity. Ex parte Hornsby, 663 So. 2d 966 (Ala. 1995), and Moore v. Ashe, 269 Ala. 359, 113 So. 2d 678 (1959). In this case, the 44 prospective plaintiffs did not file a separate action. Instead, they filed their Rule 27 petition in the 13 pending cases. Consequently, the perpetuation order by the trial court is a nullity. Id.
This resolution is as reasonable as it is mandatory. Rule 27, like all of the rules, is formulated to ensure fairness to all of the parties. Rule 1(c), Ala. R. Civ. P. The practical unfairness of the 44 prospective plaintiffs' disregarding the Rule 27 requirement to file a separate action and piggybacking their Rule 27 petition on the 13 pending cases is that they thereby presumed to preempt or at least to infringe the prerogative of the defendant to defend the 44 prospective actions in a different way or by different counsel than in the 13 pending cases.
On the one hand, the 44 prospective plaintiffs argue, in effect, that Dr. Rogers's failing health required haste in deposing him and thus justified all of the 44 prospective plaintiffs' shortcuts through the procedures specified by Rule 27. On the other hand, the more likely solution would be to abide by the plain requirements of *473 Rule 27 and to apply to the trial court to exercise its equitable or other power to meet an emergency by shortening the defendants' deadlines. See, e.g., Rule 30(a), Ala. R. Civ. P.
The mandamus materials before us disclose an absence of jurisdiction in the trial court and thereby require the relief sought by Norfolk Southern. Accordingly, we grant the petition for a writ of mandamus and issue the writ directing the trial judge to vacate his order granting the Rule 27 petition to perpetuate the testimony of Dr. Max Rogers.
WRIT ISSUED.
HOUSTON, SEE, LYONS, BROWN, HARWOOD, and STUART, JJ., concur.
MOORE, C.J., and WOODALL, J., concur in the result.
[1]  The plaintiffs in the other cases are Henry Lee Lewis, James Cecil Redd, John Elba Underwood, Kathryn E. Kilgore, Harry Louie Chandler, Mary Ann Cook, Joe Maye, Winfield Akers, Moses Driver, Sr., Richard Henry Walker, M.C. Murphy, and Bernard Edward Jackson.
[2]  The Rule 27 petitioners are Cynthia A. Atkinson; Charles S. Baggett; Leon Ballard; Coleman Baylor; John Bradley; Phillip D. Brewester; Dewey Browder; Sherman Brown; Earnest Carrington; John Edward Clark; Danny Earl Clay; Richard Collins; James N. Cox; Ronald Dorough; J.B. Ervin, Jr.; John Florence; George Forman; Robert P. Gibson; L.P. Golson; Arnold W. Higgenbotham; David R. Hill; Jack Jennings; Jonathon L. Johnson; Fred B. Kent; Fredrick W. Kidd; Henry Lewis; Dexter Massey; Joseph McCleney; Daniel Ray McInnish; Willie McSwain; Eugene Mines; James H. Murray; Charles Niles; William Joe Peoples, Jr.; Anthony J. Pitts; John Prather; Samuel Seltzer; E.D. Shamburger; Dennis Smith; Jimmy L. Smith; Leslie Smith; Johnnie Snow; Aubrey Staples; and Charles H. Stewart.