Ex Parte Alfa Mut. Ins. Co.

The defendant, Alfa Mutual Insurance Company ("Alfa"), petitions this Court for a writ of mandamus directing the Honorable Donald W. Stewart, judge of the Etowah Circuit Court, to vacate his order allowing the plaintiff, Vandra G. Mims, to depose Alfa's general counsel, Gordon Carter. The writ is denied.

Mims sued Alfa, his automobile insurance carrier, seeking damages for Alfa's alleged bad faith refusal to provide him insurance coverage.1 Responding to the complaint, James T. Sasser, an attorney retained by Alfa to defend the action, wrote a letter to Mims's attorney asserting that Mims's…