Issues: Venue, Accrual of Workers' Compensation Claim

In January 2006, Plaintiff Heathcoe was injured in Mississippi while working for Billy Barnes Enterprises ("Barnes"). Barnes acknowledged that Heathcoe's claim was compensable and paid for medical treatment and temporary total disability until Heathcoe reached maximum medical improvement in 2009. Heathcoe sued Barnes in Washington County in January 2007 seeking benefits for permanent total disability benefits. Barnes answered, alleging that venue was not proper in Washington County because Heathcoe did not reside there, and Barnes did not do business by agent there. Barnes then moved to transfer the matter to Monroe County, where Barnes' principal office was located. Barnes submitted an affidavit from its workers compensation carrier stating that Heathcoe contacted the company in November 2006 to inform it that she had moved to Tallapoosa County. Heathcoe submitted an affidavit stating that the move to Tallapoosa was temporary only. Her affidavit also included statements supporting her assertion that Barnes conducted business in Washington County. Barnes argued that suit was not proper in Washington County because Heathcoe did not reside in that county "at the time of the accrual of the cause of action" as required under Ala. Code § 6-3-7(a)(3). According to Barnes, because they were paying Heathcoe until 2009, she had no dispute with the company until that time and thus her cause of action did not accrue until after she had moved to Tallapoosa County. The trial court denied Barnes' Motion to Transfer and the Court of Civil Appeals affirmed. The Appellate Court held that under the workers' compensation statutes and case law, Heathcoe's cause of action accrued in January 2006 when her injury occurred and not, as Barnes argued, when the dispute regarding payment of benefits later arose (2009). Because there was no evidence to rebut Heathcoe's affidavit stating that she resided in Washington County at that time, and that Barnes conducted business in that County by agent, transfer was not required.