Brown v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

In Ex parte Southeast Alabama Medical Center, 835 So.2d 1042 (Ala.Civ.App. 2002), this court held that an employee need not exhaust an employer-adopted utilization-review procedure before filing a complaint in the circuit court. Judge Thompson's well-reasoned dissent in that case concluded that the utilization-review procedures authorized by §25-5-293 are an administrative prerequisite to obtaining a determination of the dispute in the trial court pursuant to § 25-5-77(a) in those cases in which an employer has implemented such utilization-review procedures. Thus, based on my concurrence with Judge Thompson's dissent inEx parte Southeast Alabama Medical Center, I would affirm the trial court's judgment in this case as well. Therefore, I concur only in the result.