Adams v. City of Duluth

• Citation: 175 Minn. 247,221 N.W. 8
• Decision Date: 27 July 1928
• Docket Number: No. 26797.,26797.
• Parties: ADAMS et al. v. CITY OF DULUTH.
• Court: Supreme Court of Minnesota (US)

221 N.W. 8

175 Minn. 247

ADAMS et al. v. CITY OF DULUTH.

No. 26797.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

July 27, 1928.

Appeal from District Court, St. Louis County; C. R. Magney, Judge.

Separate actions by Signe A. Adams and by John Q. Adams against the City of Duluth. Judgments for plaintiffs, and defendant appeals. Affirmed.

J. B. Richards and Harry E. Weinberg, both of Duluth, for appellant.

Nelson & Cedergren, of Duluth, for respondents.

HILTON, J.

Appeals from two judgments against the city of Duluth in favor of Signe A. Adams ($3,673.66) and John Q. Adams ($1,842.30).

Burns Lumber Company, a corporation, was the owner of a dwelling house in Duluth, subject to a contract for deed held by John Q. Adams and Signe A. Adams, who, as husband and wife, were joint tenants occupying said building as their home. The city of Duluth supplies gas to the public. On June 10, 1926, a violent gas explosion occurred in the residence, which damaged it and its contents, and seriously injured Mrs. Adams. Three actions were instituted simultaneously for the recovery of damages. In one action (called herein the Burns Case) the Burns Lumber Company and Mr. and Mrs. Adams joined for the recovery of damages for injury to the realty; in another Mrs. Adams sued for damages because of injury to her person; and the third, Mr. Adams' action, was to recover for damage to his personal property in the house and for consequential injury for loss of the society and services of his wife and for expenses incurred by him because of her injury. The charge of negligence was the same in all three actions and on the same date each of the cases was noticed for trial at the September, 1926, term of court. The cases were continued to the November term, at which time they were noticed for trial. At that term the Burns Case was tried to a jury and resulted in a verdict for plaintiffs against the city in the sum of $1,500, and judgment was entered thereon January 10, 1927. This judgment was shortly thereafter paid and satisfied. The cases of Mr. and Mrs. Adams were further continued and finally came on for trial at the May, 1927, term; by stipulation they were tried together. At the opening of the trial, the judgment roll in the Burns Case was introduced by plaintiff.

In the Adams Cases the issue was limited and restricted to the amount of damages. The court, practically by consent, eliminated the question of Mrs. Adam's contributory negligence; no error is assigned therefor. The question of negligence of the city in the instant cases was not submitted to the jury for the reason that such issue had been determined adversely to the defendant city in the Burns Case, and hence was res adjudicata in the two Adams Cases. At the close of plaintiffs' cases the city rested provisionally, made a motion for judgment on the pleadings, on the ground that plaintiffs had split their causes of action and were precluded from further proceedings by reason of their participation in the Burns Case. The motion was denied. The cases then proceeded with issues so limited and restricted, and verdicts were rendered for plaintiffs. The city, having made a motion for directed verdicts which was denied, after the verdicts were received, made a motion for an order for judgments notwithstanding the verdicts, which was also denied. Judgments were entered and these appeals taken.

The questions here for determination are: Did the court err (1) in restricting and limiting the issues to be tried; (2) in overruling defendant's contention that the plaintiffs Adams were estopped from prosecuting these cases by reason of the judgment in the Burns Case?

1. The question as to the negligence of the city was an issue tried and determined (adversely to the city) in the Burns Case. The plaintiffs Adams were parties thereto, as was also the city. That determination settled the question, not only in the Burns Case, but also for the Adams Cases. The ruling of the court to that effect was correct. It was res adjudicata. The only issue remaining, therefore, was the amount of damages in each case. Fleischer v. Detroit Cadillac Motor Co. (Sup.) 165 N. Y. S. 245; Town of Clarksville v. Ohio Falls, etc., Co., 56 Ind. App. 198, 105 N. E. 67; State ex rel. Buchanan County v. Patton, 271 Mo. 554, 197 S. W. 353; Blondin v. Brooks, 83 Vt. 472, 76 A 184; Cahnmann v. Metropolitan St. Ry. Co., 37 Misc. Rep. 475, 75 N. Y. S. 970; 15 R. C. L. 973 et seq. As to the distinction between estoppel by judgment and estoppel by verdict, see Swank v. St. Paul City Ry. Co., 61 Minn. 423, 63 N. W. 1088; Dunnell's Dig. (2d Ed.) §§ 5161, 5162, and cases cited.

2. It is true that all of the damages sustained were the result of one gas explosion caused by the negligence of the city. Authorities cited by defendant city in support of its contentions have been carefully examined and are found not at all determinative in this case. Most of them had to do with a plaintiff who was the only person damaged by the tortious act. There was no splitting of a cause of action here. In reaching a decision, it is not necessary for us to invoke the rule laid down in the earlier case of Skoglund v. Mpls. St. Ry. Co., 45 Minn. 330, 47 N. W. 1071, 11 L. R. A. 222, 22 Am. St. Rep. 733, and which has at least not been extended in our later decisions. Without question, a person injured in an...