# Ex Parte Dyess

> Supreme Court of Alabama · October 24, 1997 · 709 So. 2d 447

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9932534

## Case

- **Full name:** Ex Parte Elton G. Dyess, Jr., and Susie Dyess. (In Re Elton G. Dyess, Jr., and Susie Dyess v. American Hardware Insurance Group, Inc.).
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Alabama
- **Decided:** October 24, 1997
- **Citations:** 709 So. 2d 447; 1997 WL 660286
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Butts
- **Judges:** Butts, Cook, Hooper
- **Cited by:** 79 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9932534

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- noting that an insured 13 who did not sign the policy and is seeking UM benefits “is a third-party beneficiary of the policy” and cannot “pick and choose the portions of the contract that he wants to apply”
- stating that a party who seeks the benefits of a contract is bound by all provisions of the contract, not just those he chooses to enforce
- stating, in a plurality decision, that as a general rule a person cannot merely pick and choose among applicable contract provisions
- noting that an insured who did not sign the policy and is seeking UM benefits “is a third-party beneficiary of the policy” and cannot “pick and choose the portions of the contract that he wants to apply”
- emphasizing that parties claiming third-party status must show that contracting parties intended to bestow a direct benefit -10- upon them

## Opinion text

I respectfully dissent. I would hold that American Hardware's protracted and unexplained delay in seeking arbitration of the Dyesses' claims constituted a waiver of its right to compel arbitration. See Ex parte Smith , 706 So.2d 704 (Ala. 1997).

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9932534. Public record. Not legal advice.