Tracy Mitchell v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company.

PITTMAN, Judge.

This appeal presents a question regarding the proper application of the “common-fund” exception to the so-called “American rule,” which generally bars awards of attorney fees to prevailing parties, in the context of a dispute between an injured insured party and a subrogated insurance carrier over whether the carrier is responsible for a pro rata share of the insured’s attorney fees incurred in the process of obtaining a settlement payment against which the carrier has asserted a right of reimbursement. The common-fund exception as recognized in Alabama is derived from notions…