George Radford v. Mary Myers

• Decision Date: 05 January 1914
• Docket Number: No. 251,251
• Citation: 58 L.Ed. 454,34 S.Ct. 249,231 U.S. 725
• Parties: GEORGE W. RADFORD, Plff. in Err., v. MARY D. MYERS, Executrix of the Estate of Elijah E. Myers, Deceased
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

231 U.S. 725

34 S.Ct. 249

58 L.Ed. 454

GEORGE W. RADFORD, Plff. in Err.,

v MARY D. MYERS, Executrix of the Estate of Elijah E. Myers, Deceased.

No. 251.

Submitted December 3, 1913.

Decided January 5, 1914.

Mr. Thomas A. E. Weadock for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 725-727 intentionally omitted] No appearance for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Day delivered the opinion of the court:

Elijah E. Myers brought this suit in the circuit court of Wayne county, state of Michigan, against George W. Radford, the plaintiff in error herein, for an accounting and for a decree for the balance due him from a judgment in a suit of the former in which the latter acted as one of his attorneys and received the amount of the judgment. Myers having died during the pendency of the action, it was revived in the name of his executrix, the defendant in error. The decree of the circuit court in favor of the defendant in error was affirmed by the supreme court of the state of Michigan (167 Mich. 135, 132 N. W. 550, and the case comes here on error.

The record discloses that Myers had entered into a contract with the county of Luzerne, state of Pennsylvania, to furnish the plans and specifications for a courthouse, and had certain claims against the county arising therefrom. Counsel had been employed and suit commenced, but little progress made. Myers had assigned a one-half interest in the contract to his son, George W. Myers. In this state of affairs the elder Myers employed the plaintiff in error, who had theretofore been his attorney, and to whom he was indebted, to prosecute the courthouse claim. To secure his indebtedness to Radford, Myers assigned his remaining one-half interest in the claim to the plaintiff in error. Later, April 2, 1900, George W. Myers assigned his one-half interest to the plaintiff in error, the latter to account to him for the proceeds after deducting a $1,000 attorney's fee and one half of the costs, to which assignment Elijah E. Myers gave his written assent; and shortly thereafter, April 11, 1900, George W. Myers, in consideration of $150, transferred his interest in his prior assignment and in the assignment from his father to him to the plaintiff in error.

The plaintiff in error engaged local counsel in Pennsylvania, who commenced suit in the United States circuit court for the middle district of Pennsylvania, and prosecuted the courthouse claim to a successful termination (Myers v. Luzerne County, 124 Fed. 436). Thereupon George W. Myers intervened in that suit, setting up his right to one half of the judgment, claiming that his assignment to Radford had been fraudulently obtained; and one half of the amount of the judgment was paid into court. Upon the petition of the plaintiff in error to remove the money, the jurat of which was signed by Elijah E. Myers, the court decreed that the assignment was valid, and awarded the fund to Radford, and dismissed George W. Myers's claim.

Elijah E. Myers thereafter brought this suit, alleging, among other things, that Radford, on April 11, 1900, acting on his behalf, purchased the one-half interest assigned by him to George W. Myers, and that at that time it was distinctly understood and agreed between the plaintiff in error and himself that the one-half interest so purchased, with the one-half interest assigned by him to Radford, should be held as security for the payment of all his indebtedness to Radford for loans and services, and for the payment of the $150 given by Radford to George W. Myers, and all costs in the litigation of the courthouse claim, and that, after deducting such amounts from the judgment collected, the plaintiff in error should pay the balance to him. The plaintiff in error contended that the judgment in the United States circuit court was res judicata as to his right to the one-half interest in the courthouse claim assigned to him by George W. Myers. He further alleged, however, that, notwithstanding his absolute ownership of the George W. Myers one-half interest, he purchased it with the distinct intention that he would apply for the benefit of Elijah E. Myers the balance, if he succeeded in collecting the claim, after paying expenses and services and all Myers's indebtedness to him. But, he alleged, he did not intend to waive his right as absolute owner, or allow Myers to dictate the amount of expenses, services, or indebtedness. The circuit court entered a decree for the balance due Myers.

The supreme court held that the assignment of April 2, 1900, was merged in the assignment of April 11, 1900, and also held that the Federal decision in Pennsylvania had not determined that the trust relation between the plaintiff in error and Elijah E. Myers had terminated; as to which holdings the plaintiff in error assigns error, upon the failure of the supreme court to give due credit in those respects to the judgment of the United States circuit court.

From the foregoing statement it is evident that the sole Federal question involved arises from the alleged denial in the judgment of the supreme court of Michigan of due effect to the judgment rendered in the United States circuit court in Pennsylvania, which is relied upon by the plaintiff in error as re judicata of the matters in controversy. Whether such effect was given as the former judgment required presents a Federal question for determination. National Foundry & Pipe Works v. Oconto Water Supply Co. 183 U. S. 216, 233, 46 L. ed. 157, 169, 22 Sup. Ct. Rep. 111. To determine this issue we examine the judgment in the former case, the pleadings filed and the issues made, and, if necessary to elucidate the matters decided, the opinion of the court which rendered the judgment. National Foundry & Pipe Works v. Oconto Water Supply Co. supra, 234, and previous cases in this court therein cited.

As the suit in the Michigan court was not upon the identical cause of action litigated in the United States circuit court, the estoppel operates only as to matters in issue or points controverted and actually decided in that suit....