Laguna Resources, Inc. v. Jefferson Screening, Inc.

Supreme Court of Alabama May 12, 2000

Laguna Resources, Inc. v. Jefferson Screening, Inc., 770 So. 2d 596 (Ala. 2000)

2000 Ala. LEXIS 193; 2000 WL 573112

Brown, Cook, England, Hooper, Houston, Johnstone, Lyons, Maddox, See

Opinion of the Court

COOK, Justice.

WRIT DENIED. NO OPINION.

HOUSTON, SEE, LYONS, JOHNSTONE, and ENGLAND, JJ., concur. HOOPER, C.J., and MADDOX and BROWN, JJ., dissent.

Dissenting Opinion

HOOPER, Chief Justice

(dissenting).

I respectfully dissent. I do not see how a clause stating unequivocally that “[t]his Contract shall be construed in accordance with the law of Florida, and venue shall be Hillsborough County or Putnam County, Florida,” can be held to be ambiguous. The fraud claims and the misrepresentation claims arise out of language of the contract. But for the contract language, there would be no possibility of a finding of fraud or misrepresentation. Unless the trial court construes the contract language, it cannot determine the validity of the claims. I believe the trial court should have honored the forum-selection clause contained in the contract. Therefore, I would vote to issue the writ of mandamus.

MADDOX and BROWN, JJ., concur.

Reference

Full Case Name: Ex parte SEMINOLE ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC. (Re Laguna Resources, Inc. v. Jefferson Screening, Inc.)
Status: Published