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EX PARTE RELIFE6/7/1996
ReLife, Inc., petitions for a writ of mandamus relating to a lawsuit pending in the Perry Circuit Court. ReLife seeks a writ directing the trial court to set aside its order denying ReLife's motions to strike certain claims of the plaintiff and to strike a third-party complaint, and/or to transfer the case to the Jefferson Circuit Court.
Facts
The facts of this case are rather complex. Tricare Rehabilitation Systems, Inc., was an Alabama corporation that provided rehabilitation care through in-patient and out-patient clinics. Its stockholders included George B. Warren, Jr., George B. Warren, Sr., and John T. Sumner, Jr. (referred to collectively as "the Tricare stockholders"). Tricare's principal place of business was in Birmingham, and the corporation never operated within Perry County, where this case was filed. Tricare is now in involuntary bankruptcy .
On May 2, 1991, Tricare borrowed $300,000 from Colonial Bank, giving a promissory note to the bank in that amount. In order to secure this loan, Florence Warren, the wife of George Warren, Sr., and the mother of George Warren, Jr., and who herself is not a stockholder or officer of Tricare, pledged to Colonial Bank various certificates of deposit owned by her that were in the possession of Colonial Bank. Mrs. Warren alleges that she was given guarantee agreements signed by her husband, her son, John Sumner, and Tricare that provided that Mrs. Warren would be made whole by those four signers if she had to pay the Colonial note. The four signers also executed a promissory note in the amount of $40,000 in favor of Mrs. Warren.
In February 1993, ReLife, a Birmingham-based corporation that provides rehabilitation services and that has no operations in, or connections to, Perry County, entered into a purchase agreement in Birmingham in which it agreed to buy all assets from Tricare and its affiliates, none of which did any business in Perry County. Tricare, ReLife, and Brookwood Hospital then entered into an "interim management agreement." Pursuant to this agreement, ReLife agreed to take over the management of a Tricare rehabilitation facility located at Brookwood Hospital in Birmingham. One part of the agreement provided that ReLife would "make up any negative cash flow items" from the operation of the Tricare facility.
Tricare defaulted on the Colonial loan, and Mrs. Warren, who had pledged her assets as collateral, was called upon to pay Colonial $125,413.94.
Mrs. Warren, who is a Perry County resident, then sued in the Perry County Circuit Court, asserting a claim against her son, her husband, and their business associate John Sumner. Her complaint sought the
enforcement of the guaranty agreement and promissory note given her by these three defendants in 1991. Of the three, only her husband resided in Perry County. A few days after the complaint was filed, these three Tricare stockholders filed a third-party complaint alleging that "if they owe Florence Warren," then "[ReLife] owe them," based on the interim management agreement.
On April 6, 1994, ReLife filed a motion to strike the third-party complaint, alleging that the third-party plaintiffs' claims against ReLife were not dependent upon the outcome of Mrs. Warren's claim against the third-party plaintiffs. This motion was renewed on May 8, 1995.
In February 1994, petitions for involuntary bankruptcy were filed against Tricare. The bankruptcy court appointed a bankruptcy trustee to oversee Tricare's affairs. On September 25, 1994, Tricare's trustee and ReLife entered into an agreement that purported to resolve any and all disputes. ReLife was granted a release against any claims Tricare may ha
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