United States District Court, M.D. Alabama, Northern Division
ALTON R. GRIGGS, JR., Plaintiff,
v.
KENWORTH OF MONTGOMERY, INC., Defendant. YUSEF BRINSON, Plaintiff-Intervenor,
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
ANDREW
L. BRASHER UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE.
This
matter comes before the Court on Defendant Kenworth of
Montgomery, Inc.'s (“Kenworth”) Motion to
Compel Arbitration (Doc. 26) and Motion to Compel Intervenor
Yusef Brinson's Claims to Arbitration (Doc. 52), which
have been reopened pursuant to remand from the United States
Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (Doc. 132), and
Kenworth's Renewed Motion to Compel Plaintiff's
Claims and Intervenor's Claims to Arbitration. (Doc.
133). Upon consideration of Kenworth's motions,
Plaintiffs' responses, and the evidentiary material in
support of and in opposition to the motions, Kenworth's
motions are GRANTED.
BACKGROUND
This
case arises out of a 2015 tractor-trailer accident in Jackson
County, Alabama. Plaintiff Alton R. Griggs Jr., a commercial
truckdriver, was driving the tractor-trailer (the
“truck”) when the truck allegedly lost power and
the engine shut down, causing Griggs to lose control of the
truck and the truck to overturn and crash. One passenger was
in the truck at the time of the accident,
Plaintiff-Intervenor Yusef Brinson, and both Griggs and
Brinson were injured as a result of the accident.
About
one month before the accident, A.K.G. Freight Carriers, LLC
(“A.K.G.”) purchased the truck under warranty
from Arrow Truck Sales, Inc., (“Arrow”) in
Conyers, Georgia. Griggs and his wife, Kimberly Newson, are
the only members of A.K.G. On March 3, 2015, Griggs was
driving the truck in Selma, Alabama, when the truck allegedly
experienced a sudden mechanical/electrical failure, causing
it to lose power. Griggs claims that Arrow instructed him to
have the truck towed to Kenworth's repair facility in
Montgomery, Alabama, and that Arrow managed and participated
in “all testing, test interpretation[, ] and repair
decision making” related to the truck after it arrived
at Kenworth's facility. (Doc. 136 at 3).
Multiple
repairs related to the truck's Electronic Control Module
(“ECM”) were completed by Kenworth over the
course of the next several days. On March 4, 2015, Kenworth
attempted to fix the power loss issue by tightening a loose
connection to the ECM, which proved unsuccessful after the
engine shut down during a test drive. On March 5, 2015,
Kenworth replaced the battery cable, which also proved
unsuccessful after the engine again shut down during a test
drive. Finally, that same day, Kenworth removed and replaced
the ECM-a repair Griggs alleges was authorized and directed
by Arrow. On March 6, 2015, after the truck was returned to
Griggs, Griggs was driving the truck when it again lost
power, allegedly causing the accident that now forms the
basis of this lawsuit.
Kenworth
issued three separate repair orders and invoices for the
repairs it performed on the truck, all of which contained the
same arbitration provision:
4.
Arbitration.
Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this
Invoice or otherwise relating in any fashion to the purchase
or sale of equipment, parts or service thereon shall be
submitted to arbitration in the county in which the
dealership is located in accordance with the rules of the
American Arbitration Association. Judgment upon any award
rendered in such proceedings may be entered in any court
having jurisdiction thereof, and the parties hereto submit to
the jurisdiction of all state and federal courts having venue
in the county in which the dealership is located.
(Docs. 133-1 at 6, 26-4 at 2, 26-5 at 2, and 26-6 at 4).
Griggs
signed his individual name on the repair orders for the first
two repairs and on the invoice for the third repair, though
each repair order and invoice has a “Sold To” and
“Ship To” section identifying A.K.G. as the
customer. For the first repair, Arrow paid $189.75, and
Griggs paid $214.29 with his personal Visa card. For the
second repair, Griggs paid the entire repair
cost-$429.64-with his personal Visa card. For the last
repair, Kenworth sent Arrow a quote for approval, and Arrow
paid $1, 936.61. Brinson neither signed nor paid any of the
repair orders or invoices.
PROCEDURAL
HISTORY
On June
1, 2016, Griggs filed this action against Arrow and Kenworth,
asserting (1) negligence, breach of express and implied
warranties, and negligent misrepresentation/fraud claims
against Arrow and (2) negligence and negligent
misrepresentation/fraud claims against Kenworth. Generally,
Griggs claims that the truck had “an electrical system
defect that the Defendants, at various times and despite
numerous opportunities, failed to repair.” (Doc. 136 at
5). With respect to Kenworth, Griggs specifically asserts the
following allegations in his Complaint:
20. After the replacement of the ECM, the subject tractor was
returned to GRIGGS with the assurance that
the repairs that had been performed would end the
tractor's power loss and engine shut down problems. . . .
64. Defendant KENWORTH acted negligently
and/or wantonly in failing to effectuate and confirm all
necessary repairs had been performed, prior to relinquishing
possession of the tractor to GRIGGS. . . .
65. Defendant KENWORTH acted negligently
and/or wantonly in representing to GRIGGS
that the subject tractor's performance problems had been
corrected, prior to ...