Ex Parte Tom Bole. (in Re Lawton Higgs, Sr. v. Tom Bole). ex Parte Reverend Ron Schultz. (in Re Lawton Higgs, Sr. V…

Summary

The Alabama Supreme Court held that the trial court lacked subject‑matter jurisdiction over Higgs’s defamation, invasion‑of‑privacy, and intentional‑infliction‑of‑emotional‑distress claims because adjudicating them would require impermissible inquiry into internal United Methodist Church matters, and therefore granted Bole’s mandamus petition to dismiss the claims; it also dismissed Reverend Schultz’s petition as moot because the subpoena was void.