Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc. v. Bruno

In Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc. v. Bruno, 784 So. 2d 277 (Ala. 2000) the plaintiff had requested an evidentiary hearing, but had submitted no evidence opposing the defendant's motion to compel arbitration. Justice Lyons, in a special concurrence in Fleetwood Enterprises, wrote: "It is well settled that a motion to compel arbitration is analogous to a motion for summary judgment. After a motion to compel arbitration has been made and supported, the burden is on the nonmovant to present evidence indicating that the supposed arbitration agreement is not valid or does not apply to the dispute in question. "None of [the plaintiff] Bruno's three responses to the motions to compel arbitration was supported by any evidentiary material. Bruno's requests for an evidentiary hearing, standing alone, are not the equivalent of submission of evidence. We do not permit a party to defeat an opposing party's motion for summary judgment simply by requesting an evidentiary hearing. In those instances where we review an interlocutory order denying a motion for summary judgment by entertaining a petition for a writ of mandamus, or by permitting an appeal pursuant to Rule 5, Ala. R. App. P., it would be improper to uphold the order denying the motion if the record before us was insufficient to justify the denial. We cannot justify disparate procedural treatment based simply on the fact that the underlying facts of this case may, if properly presented, demonstrate unconscionability of an arbitration agreement."