Birmingham Retail Center Associates Ltd. v. Eastwood Festival Associates

MADDOX, Justice.1

The primary issue presented on these appeals is whether a successor judge, who is the successor judge by reason of his defeating the predecessor judge in an election, should have granted a motion for a new trial where all of the evidence had been presented ore tenus to the predecessor judge and the predecessor judge had made findings of fact.

The subject matter of the underlying action was damage caused by a landslide that occurred while a shopping center was being built on an undeveloped piece of property located in the Eastwood section of Birmingham. The landslide caused…