In 1955, the Alabama Supreme Court established a rule that loss-of-use damages in vehicle cases were recoverable only if the vehicle was repairable. Hunt v. Ward, 79 So. 2d 20, 25-26 (Ala. 1955) (the “Hunt rule”). This meant that an interested party could not recover “for both [the] total loss of an automobile and loss of use of the same vehicle.” Fuller v. Martin, 125 So. 2d 4, 7 (Ala. Ct. App. 1960). The Alabama Supreme Court subsequently modified the Hunt rule to “allow the recovery of reasonable loss-of-use damages during the time reasonably required” to replace a “damaged commercial vehicle that is not repairable[.]” Ex parte S&M, LLC, 120 So. 3d 509, 516 (Ala. 2012) (emphasis added). In Ex parte Alfa Mutual Insurance Company, — So. 3d —, 2025 WL 1198695 (Ala. 2025), the Alabama Supreme Court extended the Hunt rule, and Ex parte S&M’s logic, to destroyed personal vehicles.

In February 2021, Patricia Myers’s vehicle hit Amy and Jeffery Gray’s Toyota Highlander, which was insured by Alfa Mutual Insurance Company. Jeffrey filed a claim and Alfa deemed the Highlander a total loss. Alfa paid the Grays $12,035, which included $532.69 for a rental vehicle used following the accident. Alfa then sought to recover the payment from Myers.

After a trial, a judgment in favor of Alfa was entered for the full $12,035, which Myers appealed. The Court of Civil Appeals found that Hunt, Fuller, and Ex parte S&M, precluded recovery for loss-of-use damages for the Grays’ vehicle and reversed the judgment. However, in a special concurrence, every sitting member of the Court of Civil Appeals encouraged the Alabama Supreme Court to modify the controlling precedent. Alfa subsequently petitioned the Alabama Supreme Court for certiorari review requesting loss-of-use damages be recoverable for destroyed personal vehicles.

The Alabama Supreme Court began its analysis by stating: (1) “[l]oss-of-use damages ‘are a type of compensatory damage’”; (2) compensatory damages are meant to return an injured party to the where they were had the tort not been committed; and (3) compensatory damages are intended “to make the injured party whole.” The Alabama Supreme Court then acknowledged the tension between the purpose of the compensatory damages and the Hunt rule. The Alabama Supreme Court resolved the tension by overruling Hunt so far as it precludes recovery of loss-of use damages for destroyed personal vehicles. The new rule in Alabama is “‘reasonable loss-of-use damages during the time reasonably required to procure a suitable replacement vehicle’ are recoverable” when a personal vehicle has been destroyed.