Court Opinion

ID: 9937838
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-09 19:02:04.0666+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:29.859328
License: Public Domain

I concur completely with Justice See's special writing. I write separately only to express my thoughts on the feasibility and desirability of applying the legislatively adopted forum non conveniens statute to class actions.
Alabama does not have a statute similar to the one used in the federal court system that allows the transfer of cases involving multi-district litigation to the most appropriate forum. However, Alabama does have § 6-3-21.1, Ala. Code 1975, the forum non conveniens statute, which allows a trial court to transfer a case to the most convenient forum. Many of the procedural problems that can occur when two or more actions involving the same claims are filed in separate counties could be alleviated by allowing their joinder in the most convenient forum. The application of the forum non conveniens statute, in my opinion, could help assure that litigants have their claims litigated quickly and less expensively and could eliminate the "rush to the courthouse" that spawned the "conditional class certification" problem in the first place. If the provisions of the forum non conveniens statute cannot be interpreted to permit a procedure similar to the procedure used in federal courts in multidistrict litigation, the Legislature might consider addressing the issue.