Opinion ID: 1653163
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: out-of-state law

Text: Out-of-state cases often assist us in decisions, and we should take advantage of what we can learn from the analysis of other courts. [2] Reliance upon these decisions, however, should be tempered by the understanding that they grow out of generations of the law of another state. There may be underpinnings which support the decision that do not support the same decision here. To illustrate, I suggest we look closely at the decision of the Alabama Supreme Court in General Fin. Corp. v. Smith, 505 So.2d 1045 (Ala.1987). This court is the only supreme court which has written on the issue we face today. The Alabama Supreme Court interpreted a repossession statute identical to our own to decide that the statute imposed a nondelegable duty. In reaching its decision, the Alabama Supreme Court conceded that the Alabama legislature had not specified the safeguards or precautions which a secured party may take to effect a peaceful repossession. Nevertheless, the court concluded that by implication, a secured party is under a duty to take those precautions which are necessary at the time to avoid a breach of the peace. Id. at 1048. I initially note that the words by implication indicate that the Alabama Supreme Court has greater liberty than we in statutory interpretation. Texas law does not give us the power to insert words which the legislature has omitted in drafting statutes. See Seay v. Hall, 677 S.W.2d 19, 25 (Tex.1984). A deeper analysis leads to questions about what the opinion does to the Alabama law governing independent contractors and their employers. Does the decision represent a logical next step or was it a departure from Alabama's law? When we take a step back into Alabama law, we find that Alabama law regarding independent contractors has developed somewhat differently from our own. In Alabama, the non-delegable duty exception is well-recognized and broad. In State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co. v. Dodd, 276 Ala. 410, 162 So.2d 621 (1964), the court discussed the history of the nondelegable duty exception, citing a line of cases which run back to 1889. Id. 162 So.2d at 626-27. Many of these cases expressly use the term nondelegable duty and develop the rule that an employer may not escape tort liability for negligence in performing such a duty by hiring an independent contractor. Id. The nondelegable duty may arise out of a contract or law. Id. In State Farm, it arose out of contract. The court held that an insurance company was liable, under contract, for harm resulting from automobile repairs done by a garage which the company had hired. Id., 162 So.2d at 628. In Robertson v. City of Tuscaloosa, 413 So.2d 1064 (Ala. 1982), the Alabama Supreme Court made clear that the nondelegable duty exception could arise from a statute. Id. at 1066. The line of cases preceding the decision explains why the Alabama Supreme Court was able to deliver a unanimous, per curiam opinion in General Finance. The precedent supporting the court was overwhelming, the exception developed, the rule familiar. In our own case, creation of strict liability by application of the exception is a major decision, one which constitutes a break with our usual approach to the law governing employers and their independent contractors. It is a mistake to base our decision upon out-of-state law without being certain that our own law supports the step we take.