Alpha Management Corporation v. Betty Harris

Summary

The court held that Community Park Apartments, Inc. was fraudulently joined because undisputed evidence showed it had conveyed the apartment complex decades before the fire and therefore could not be liable under the pleaded theories. The court adopted a limited summary-judgment-like procedure for resolving fraudulent-joinder-based venue motions, concluded that the warranty deed established the prior conveyance, and ordered CPA dismissed and the case transferred to Pike or Madison County. The court also held that the entry of default did not establish CPA's liability because no default judgment had been entered. Separate opinions disagreed with the majority's treatment of the default and with its adoption of a de novo summary-judgment standard, while agreeing that venue should be transferred.