Court Opinion

ID: 9695272
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 18:14:19.836504+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:10.588345
License: Public Domain

HEFLIN, Chief Justice
(concurring specially) :
I concur in the result expressed by the majority opinion in this case, but I do not feel that an extended discussion of prior practice is necessary in order to reach this result. There is inherent danger that ills of prior practice can creep into the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure if prior practice decisions are used to interpret language in the new civil trial rules. If judicial interpretation of a rule is necessary then resort to decisions of the federal courts or courts of other states on identical or similarly worded rules would be more appropriate. It appears to me that the case under review presents the very situation that Rule 13 of the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure was designed to cover.
As the majority opinion points out in its quote from the Wright and Miller work on the federal rules of procedure, “by granting an injunction in this context, the court furthers the general federal policy against multiplicity of litigation embodied in Rule 13(a) itself.”
This same general policy against multiplicity of litigation underpins Rule 13(a) of the Alabama Rules and under the circumstances presented by this case, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in issuing the order appealed.
The commentary to Rule 13 clearly demonstrates the soundness of this position:
“In general, the scheme of the rule is that any claim whatever which any party has against any opposing party may be asserted as a counterclaim. It is immaterial whether the counterclaim is legal or equitable or in contract or in tort, or even whether it has any connection whatever with the plaintiff’s claim. The counterclaim may ask for more or different relief than that sought by the opposing party, it need not run for all the parties on one side and against all the parties on the other, and it need not tend to diminish or defeat the recovery sought by the opposing party. Additional parties may be brought in to defend against the counterclaim where their presence is necessary for the granting of complete relief.
“Though any claim against an opposing party may be presented as a counterclaim, the rule also provides that such a claim must be pleaded as a counterclaim if it arises out of the transaction or occurrence that is the subject matter of the opposing party’s claim. The purpose of this provision is to avoid circuity of actions, and to require assertion as counterclaims of those claims which are likely to turn on the same facts as the original claim. A counterclaim is. compulsory if there is any logical relation of any sort between the original claim and the counterclaim .• .
“If the pleader neglects to assert a compulsory counterclaim the court can grant leave to amend the pleadings to raise it. But if it is not asserted, it cannot thereafter be sued on in another action.” (Citation omitted)
In short, I would hold that the case now before the court proceeded under the new rules and that the new rules provide a satisfactory basis for deciding the procedural issues presented.