Gober v. Alabama Department of Corrections

I read § 25-5-86(2), Ala.Code 1975, to be plainly worded and straightforward. Compensation benefits payable under the *843Workers’ Compensation Act “shall not be assignable and shall be exempt from seizure ... for the payment of any debt or liability.”

The Department of Corrections argues, however, that the payments at issue are not compensation benefits under the Workers’ Compensation Act. The majority relies primarily upon Lanford v. City of Sheffield, 689 So.2d 176 (Ala.Civ.App. 1997). I find that case distinguishable.

In Lanford, the claimant was serving a jail sentence for the commission of a…