Johnson v. Windham, [Ms. CL-2024-0393, Oct. 11, 2024] __ So. 3d __ (Ala. Civ. App. 2024). The court (Moore, P.J.; Edwards, Hanson, Fridy, and Lewis, JJ., concur) reverses the Geneva Circuit Court’s dismissal of an action filed by Ellana Johnson (“the tenant”) seeking both injunctive relief and damages for her landlord’s alleged violation of the Alabama Uniform Residential Landlord Tenant Act (“the Act”) in improperly evicting her from a mobile home.
The court holds “[t]he trial court notified the parties that it would hear the landlords’ motion ‘regarding’ the TRO on April 11, 2024. At the outset of the hearing, the trial court repeated that its purpose was to hear the landlords’ motion, and it ruled during the hearing that only evidence relating to that motion would be admitted. After the hearing, however, the trial court not only dissolved the TRO, but it also dismissed the action, which dismissal was an adjudication on the merits. See Rule 41(b), Ala. R. Civ. P. … we conclude that the trial court erred to reversal in entering a final judgment on the merits based solely on the TRO hearing.” Ms. **5-6.