Preview:

REL: 12/17/2010

Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 2290649), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is printed in Southern Reporter.

SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA
OCTOBER TERM, 2010-2011 ____________________ 1091491 ____________________ Ex parte Valentina Lugo de Vega et al. PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS (In re: Valentina Lugo de Vega et al. v. Tom Shelton et al.) ____________________ 1091495 ____________________ Ex parte Wilson's Diesel Service, L.L.C., et al. PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS (In re: Valentina Lugo de Vega et al. v. Tom Shelton et al.) (Jefferson Circuit Court, Bessemer Division, CV-07-1290)

1091491, 1091495 SMITH, Justice. Valentina Lugo de Vega, the widow of Sylvestre Vega, and Sylvestre Vega, Jr., Valeria Maria Vega, Jesus Eduardo Vega Lugo, and Matthew Luke Vega Lugo, the children of Sylvestre Vega (collectively, "the plaintiffs"), petition this Court for a writ of mandamus directing the Jefferson Circuit Court to vacate its order transferring the plaintiffs' claims against Tom Shelton, James Shelton, and Jay Electric Company, Inc., to Tuscaloosa County (no. 1091491). Defendants John Wilson and

Wilson's Diesel Service, L.L.C., on their own behalf and also on behalf of defendants Debco Diesel, Cottondale Diesel

Repair, Inc., John Wilson d/b/a Debco Diesel, and John Wilson d/b/a Cottondale Diesel Repair, Inc. (collectively, "the

Wilson defendants"), also petition this Court for a writ of mandamus directing the Jefferson Circuit Court to transfer the plaintiffs' claims against them to Tuscaloosa County (no. 1091495). We grant the plaintiffs' petition and issue the

writ, and we deny the Wilson defendants' petition. Facts and Procedural History This action arises from an accident that occurred on August 3, 2007, in which Sylvestre Vega was fatally

2

1091491, 1091495 electrocuted by a generator for a lighting system at a

drilling site.

At the time of the accident, Vega was employed

as a laborer for Capstone Drilling Company at a methane-gas drilling site in Jefferson County. The principal place of

business of Capstone Drilling is in Tuscaloosa County. As a result of the fatal accident, the plaintiffs,

residents of Tuscaloosa County, sued Tom Shelton, a resident of Tuscaloosa County, in the Bessemer Division of the

Jefferson Circuit Court on October 5, 2007.

In the complaint,

the plaintiffs alleged that "Tom Shelton is the owner of Capstone Drilling and has been at all times material herein" and that "[Tom Shelton] is responsible, in whole or in part, for the condition of the generator machine." Without

specifying the identity of Vega's supervisor at the methanegas drilling site, the plaintiffs further alleged that "[Vega] was asked by his superior to climb a generator light pole to move the focus of a generator light" and that, "[w]hile

climbing the generator light pole, [Vega] came in contact with an energized male plug coming from the generator, which

resulted in a fatal electrical current going through his body

3

1091491, 1091495 and resulting in his death." The complaint contains only one

count, "Willfulness," which states: "The plaintiff[s] further allege[] that all of the generator lights on the subject generator were wired incorrectly in that the male end of the plugs were energized and the female end of the plugs were non-energized. "The plaintiff[s] further allege[] that at the female end of an electrical plug is a guard on generators, and other electrical machines, to keep someone from being shocked or electrocuted while coming in inadvertent contact with the energized portion of the electrical system. "The plaintiff[s] further allege[] that the incorrect, or backwards, wiring of the subject generator was the result of the removal, failure to maintain, and/or failure to install proper electrical plugs, where the female end should have been energized and the male end non-energized. In this case, the male plug, in violation of the National Electrical Code, was energized. "The plaintiff[s] bring[] suit against the Defendant Tom Shelton pursuant to Alabama Code

Download 1091491.pdf

Alabama Law