Alabama Supreme Court Hears Arguments Over Alleged Forged Discovery and $2.25M Emotional-Damages Award

The Supreme Court of Alabama heard argument in Envoy Air Incorporated v. Jada Cray (SC20250022), an appeal from the Mobile Circuit Court, in which defense counsel argued a forged or improperly verified interrogatory answer was wrongly admitted at trial and that a $2.25 million emotional-damages award should be reduced.

Appellant's counsel Forrest Latta told the court the litigation began as a workers'compensation dispute and shifted when an interrogatory response contained an incorrect statement that the employee "voluntarily resigned." Latta said a later attestation page purportedly signed for Envoy was determined by a special master to be a forgery and therefore "was not evidence" and "was not imputable to Envoy." He argued the discovery response did not meet authentication requirements and was highly prejudicial to his client. "It was not evidence," Latta told the court when explaining why the interrogatory answer should have been excluded.

The bench pressed…