Finley v. St. John's Mercy Medical Center

• Citation: 958 S.W.2d 593
• Decision Date: 06 January 1998
• Docket Number: Nos. 71634,72250,s. 71634
• Parties: Patricia FINLEY, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. ST. JOHN'S MERCY MEDICAL CENTER and The Sisters of Mercy, Defendants/Respondents. Patricia FINLEY, Plaintiff/Respondent, v. ST. JOHN'S MERCY MEDICAL CENTER and The Sisters of Mercy, Defendants/Appellants.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Page 593

958 S.W.2d 593

Patricia FINLEY, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. ST. JOHN'S MERCY MEDICAL CENTER and The Sisters of Mercy,

Defendants/Respondents.

Patricia FINLEY, Plaintiff/Respondent, v. ST. JOHN'S MERCY MEDICAL CENTER and The Sisters of Mercy,

Defendants/Appellants.

Nos. 71634, 72250.

Missouri Court of Appeals,

Eastern District,

Division Two.

Jan. 6, 1998.

David S. Purcell, Purcell & Associates, St. Louis, for appellant.

John J. Mohan, Frans J. von Kaenel, Margaret A. Hesse, Hinshaw & Culbertson, St. Louis, for respondents.

CRANE, Presiding Judge.

Two appeals have been consolidated in this opinion. The first appeal raises the issue of whether a party who has recovered disability benefits under a disability plan from the date of disability to the date of judgment in a prior judgment is barred by principles of res judicata or collateral estoppel from bringing a subsequent action to recover disability benefits alleged to be due after the date of the previous judgment. We hold that res judicata and collateral estoppel do not apply. We reverse the trial court's judgment dismissing the petition filed in the subsequent action and remand. The second appeal raises the issue of whether the trial court in the first action erred in amending its judgment pursuant to Rule 74.06(b) to add an explanation of the evidence considered and not considered. We hold this was not a proper procedure under Rule 74.06(b) and reverse the judgment amending the first judgment.

In September, 1988 plaintiff, Patricia Finley, was injured in the course of her employment at defendant, St. John's Mercy Medical Center, a wholly-owned subsidiary of defendant, The Sisters of Mercy of the St. Louis Regional Community, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as defendants). Defendants maintained a long term disability plan. Plaintiff filed an action against defendants alleging that, as a result of the injury, she had been disabled since November 20, 1990, that she was a beneficiary of the plan, and that she had been denied benefits under the plan. She further alleged that she was entitled to monthly payments under the plan from February 20, 1991 until she reaches age sixty-five on January 3, 2017. She sought back payments to the date of judgment and future payments to age sixty-five. On January 4, 1996 the trial court granted plaintiff's motion for summary judgment and awarded her disability benefits to the date of its judgment. We will hereinafter refer to this case as "Finley I."

On June 5, 1996 plaintiff filed a petition in a new action seeking monthly disability payments from February 20, 1991 until January 3, 2017, reduced by the amounts paid on the previous judgment. We will hereinafter refer to this case as "Finley II." Defendants moved to dismiss this petition on the grounds of res judicata and collateral estoppel. The trial court granted the motion. Plaintiff appeals from this judgment.

On January 3, 1997, pursuant to Rule 74.06(b), plaintiff filed a Motion for Relief from Final Judgment requesting that the trial court reopen Finley I in order to clarify the intent and effect of the summary judgment. On February 18, 1997 the court granted plaintiff's Motion for Relief from Final Judgment and amended the January 4, 1996 judgment by adding the following words: "The court, in rendering this judgment

                [,] has considered evidence of plaintiff's damages until the date of this judgment and has not considered evidence of future damages."   Defendants appeal from that judgment
                

PLAINTIFF'S APPEAL, CAUSE NO. 71634

Plaintiff contends the trial court erred in dismissing her petition in Finley II and urges that neither collateral estoppel nor res judicata bar her petition because no court has considered her claim for disability benefits after the January 4, 1996 judgment. We agree.

Collateral estoppel precludes the same parties, or those in privity, from relitigating issues which were necessarily and unambiguously decided. King General Contractors, Inc. v. Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 821 S.W.2d 495, 501 (Mo. banc 1991). In reviewing the appropriate application of collateral estoppel, we consider: (1) whether the issue decided in the prior adjudication was identical with the issue presented in the present action; (2) whether the prior adjudication resulted in a judgment on the merits; and (3) whether the party against whom collateral estoppel is asserted was a party or in privity with a party to the prior adjudication. Id. at 500. Courts also often recognize a fourth factor: whether the party against whom collateral estoppel is asserted had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue in the prior suit. Id.

Res judicata requires "four identities": 1) identity of the thing sued for; 2) identity of the cause of action; 3) identity of the persons and parties to the action; and 4) identity of the quality of the person for or against whom the claim is made. King General Contractors, Inc., 821 S.W.2d at 501. Unlike collateral estoppel, res judicata applies not only to points and issues upon which the court was required by the pleadings and proof to form an opinion and pronounce judgment, but also to every point properly belonging to the subject matter of litigation and which the parties, exercising reasonable diligence, might have brought forward at the time. Id. The critical distinction is that collateral estoppel operates only as to issues actively litigated in the previous action, whereas res judicata precludes relitigation of issues which might have properly been determined. Both res judicata and collateral estoppel apply to judgments rendered on the merits. Korte Trucking v. Broadway Ford Truck Sales, 877 S.W.2d 218, 220 (Mo.App.1994).

Related to these doctrines is the rule against splitting a cause of action. A cause of action which is single may not be split and filed or tried piecemeal, the penalty for which is that an adjudication on the merits in the first suit is a bar to a second suit. King General Contractors, Inc., 821 S.W.2d at 501. In general, the test for determining whether a cause of action is single and cannot be split is: 1) whether separate actions brought arise out of the same act, contract or transaction; or 2) whether the parties, subject matter and evidence necessary to sustain the claim are the same in both actions. Id. The word "transaction" has a broad meaning. Id. It has been defined as the aggregate of all the circumstances which constitute the foundation for a claim. Id. It also includes all the facts and circumstances out of which an injury arose. Id.

However, distinct causes of action may arise from a single contract, transaction or occurrence. A plaintiff is not barred from bringing two successive claims on the same contract where the second action had not accrued at the time the first was prosecuted. Korte Const. Co. v. Deaconess Manor Assn., 927 S.W.2d 395, 404 (Mo.App.1996). An injured party may bring a succession of actions on breaches of a contract imposing a continuous duty which causes a steady accretion of damage. McGee v. St. Joseph Belt Ry. Co., 232 Mo.App. 639, 110 S.W.2d 389, 391 (1937), quoting 1 Sutherland on Damages (4th Ed.) p. 415. Thus, while a contract is still in existence, each time the defendant fails to perform in accordance with its provisions is a separate violation of its terms and gives rise to a new cause of action. Id. at 392.

This case involves a contract which contains a continuing duty to pay disability benefits. Defendants breach that duty and plaintiff suffers new damages each month that plaintiff's disability continues and she is not paid the monthly benefits pursuant to the Further, the claim in Finley II, while involving a claim for payment of disability benefits under the same contract, did not involve the same cause of action because that claim, for benefits accruing after the previous judgment, did not arise until after the previous judgment. This was a separate claim, based upon an alleged breach of the disability plan which, while involving the same plan, did not involve the same claim of breach made in Finley I.

terms of the contract. Her cause of action for benefits in any particular month does not accrue until these conditions have been met....