Opinion ID: 1596550
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: ad damnum clause amendments

Text: The trial court's rejection of claimants' offered amendments to increase their prayer for damages above the jurisdictional level of the district court is mandated by ARCP 13(j). Plaintiffs had the right to claim only a portion of their damages in order to remain within the jurisdiction of the district court; but, by doing so, they destroyed their right, on appeal to the circuit court, to claim the excess. See Hardy v. Tabor, 369 So.2d 559 (Ala.Civ.App.1979). The constitutional issue raised by Appellants is without merit. Therefore, that portion of the trial court's order sustaining the Appellees' objection to Appellants' amendments is affirmed. AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART; AND REMANDED. MADDOX, FAULKNER, SHORES and ADAMS, JJ., concur. TORBERT, C. J., and ALMON, EMBRY and BEATTY, JJ., dissent.