Opinion ID: 1699223
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: General Principles of Appellate Review

Text: We review a summary judgment de novo. Potter v. First Real Estate Co., 844 So.2d 540, 545 (Ala.2002) (citation omitted). Summary judgment is appropriate only when `there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.' Ex parte Rizk, 791 So.2d 911, 912 (Ala.2000) (citations omitted). In determining whether the nonmovant has created a genuine issue of material fact, we apply the `substantial-evidence rule'  evidence, to create a genuine issue of material fact, must be `substantial.' § 12-21-12(a), Ala.Code 1975. `Substantial evidence' is defined as `evidence of such weight and quality that fair-minded persons in the exercise of impartial judgment can reasonably infer the existence of the fact sought to be proved.' West v. Founders Life Assurance Co. of Florida, 547 So.2d 870, 871 (Ala.1989). Callens v. Jefferson County Nursing Home, 769 So.2d 273, 278-79 (Ala.2000) (footnote omitted). In deciding a motion for a summary judgment, or in reviewing a summary judgment, the court must accept the tendencies of the evidence most favorable to the nonmoving party and must resolve all reasonable factual doubts in favor of the nonmoving party. Bruce v. Cole, 854 So.2d 47 (Ala.2003), and Pitney Bowes, Inc. v. Berney Office Solutions, 823 So.2d 659 (Ala.2001). See Ex parte Helms, 873 So.2d 1139 (Ala.2003), and Willis v. Parker, 814 So.2d 857 (Ala.2001). A defendant who moves for a summary judgment on the ground of an affirmative defense `must support his motion with credible evidence, using any of the materials specified in Rule 56(c), [Ala.] R. Civ. P. (pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits). The movant's proof must be such that he would be entitled to a directed verdict if this evidence was not controverted at trial.'  Ex parte General Motors Corp., 769 So.2d 903, 909 (Ala.1999) (quoting Berner v. Caldwell, 543 So.2d 686, 691 (Ala.1989) (Houston, J., concurring specially)). On the other hand, a defendant who moves for a summary judgment on the ground of a failure of the [plaintiff's] evidence... must indicate where the [plaintiff's] case suffers an evidentiary failure. Kennedy v. Western Sizzlin Corp., 857 So.2d 71, 78 (Ala.2003). If such a summary-judgment motion does not inform the trial court (and the [plaintiff]) of a failure of the [plaintiff's] evidence on a fact or issue, no burden shifts to the [plaintiff] to present substantial evidence on that fact or issue. Therefore, summary judgment for a failure of proof not asserted by the motion for summary judgment is inappropriate. Tanner v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 874 So.2d 1058, 1068 n. 3 (Ala.2003) (citations omitted). Thus, on the one hand, a trial court should not grant a summary judgment, and an appellate court will not affirm one, on the basis of an absence of substantial evidence to support an essential element of a claim or affirmative defense unless the motion for a summary judgment has properly raised that absence of evidence and has thereby shifted to the nonmoving party the burden of producing substantial supporting evidence. Ex parte General Motors Corp., supra , Liberty Nat'l Life Ins. Co. v. University of Alabama Health Servs., 881 So.2d 1013, 1020 (Ala.2003), and Tanner, 874 So.2d at 1068 n. 3. On the other hand, so long as the motion for a summary judgment has properly raised the absence of substantial evidence and the nonmoving party has not carried the shifted burden by producing substantial evidence, an appellate court will affirm a summary judgment on the basis of a law or legal principle not invoked by the moving party or the trial court, even though an appellate court will not reverse a summary judgment on the basis of a law or legal principle not first argued to the trial court by the nonmoving party. Ex parte Ryals, 773 So.2d 1011, 1013 (Ala.2000), and Smith v. Equifax Servs., Inc., 537 So.2d 463, 465 (Ala.1988).