Ex Parte National Trust Insurance Company Petition for Writ of Mandamus (in Re: Timothy L . Bozeman v. Phoenix Ii…

Summary

The court granted National Trust's mandamus petition in part, holding that Whaley's accrued claims concerning National Trust's refusal to indemnify Whaley for amounts paid to settle Lockheed Martin's indemnity claim were compulsory counterclaims in the earlier federal declaratory-judgment action. Because those claims arose from the same aggregate core of operative facts as the federal action, the circuit court was required to dismiss them under Alabama's abatement statute. The court denied relief as to Whaley's contingent claims for future defense and indemnification because those claims had not accrued and therefore were not compulsory counterclaims.