Ex parte Mobile Infirmary Association d/b/a Mobile Infirmary Medical Center
Alabama Supreme Court Case No. 1170993 (Aug. 16, 2018). The Court unanimously (Stuart, C.J., and Bolin, Parker, Shaw, Main, Wise, Bryan, Sellers, and Mendheim, JJ., concur) denies without opinion the fourth petition for a writ of mandamus arising from the death of Debra Weldon Dotson at Mobile Infirmary in 2016 (see Case Nos. 1170825 (Infirmary's petition denied July 27, 2018; 1160769 (Infirmary's petition denied September 12, 2017); and 1160645 (Infirmary's petition dismissed June 2, 2017)). In this petition, the Infirmary sought dismissal of the wrongful death complaint under the authority of § 6-5-440, Ala. Code 1975 (Alabama's "abatement" or "prior pending action" statute). Plaintiff demonstrated that the issues presented by the petition were moot, that there was no identity of parties between the two medical negligence wrongful death actions as required for invocation of § 6-5-440, and that the Infirmary should be judicially estopped from invoking § 6-5-440 under the doctrine prohibiting inconsistent positions.
