Hughes v. Allenstein
| Decision Date | 07 August 1987 |
| Parties | Henry C. HUGHES, Jr., Individually and as Executor of the Estate of Henry C. Hughes, Sr., and Myrtle D. Hughes, deceased v. Myron K. ALLENSTEIN. 85-849. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
The original opinion filed in this cause is hereby withdrawn and the following opinion is substituted in lieu thereof.
This is a legal malpractice case, and it comes to this Court on appeal from a summary judgment granted in favor of the defendant attorney, Myron Allenstein, who had been retained by the plaintiff, Henry Hughes, Jr., to file a wrongful death action. 1
Plaintiff's parents, Henry Hughes, Sr., and Myrtle Hughes, were killed in an automobile accident; the evidence, if believed, showed that the negligent operation of a tractor-trailer truck, owned by Southern Haulers, Inc., and driven by George Porter, Jr., was the cause of the deaths. Hughes retained Myron Allenstein to represent him. Allenstein filed a wrongful death action against Southern Haulers, without joining Porter as a defendant. After negotiations, Southern Haulers made a pretrial settlement offer of $150,000, but, upon advice of counsel, Hughes refused this offer of settlement. The case was tried before a jury, and the jury returned a verdict in favor of Hughes for only $10,000, and judgment was entered upon the jury's verdict. Hughes appealed that judgment to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals, claiming, inter alia, that the trial jury awarded insufficient damages; the Court of Civil Appeals affirmed the trial court's judgment on all grounds. Hughes v. Southern Haulers, Inc., 379 So.2d 601 (Ala.Civ.App.1979).
After suffering what he considered an adverse jury verdict in his first wrongful death suit, Hughes, again acting through attorney Allenstein, filed a second wrongful death action, this time against Porter, the truck driver. Attorney Ludger Martin was also an attorney for Hughes in this case, Martin entering his appearance in the case after it had been filed by Allenstein. Porter, in a motion for summary judgment, claimed that the suit was barred because he could have been joined as a party in the first suit against Southern Haulers. His motion was denied by the trial court. In the second case, however, Hughes accepted, upon advice of Allenstein and Martin, a pretrial settlement offer of $25,000.
Following the settlement of his action against Porter, and after executing a release, Hughes hired new counsel and brought a malpractice action against Allenstein in federal district court, and, in that action, claimed damages against Allenstein for Allenstein's alleged negligence in the pretrial preparation for, and in the trial of, the Southern Haulers case. The malpractice case was tried in federal court, and a jury returned a verdict in Allenstein's favor; that judgment has subsequently been affirmed on appeal. Hughes v. Allenstein, 802 F.2d 1397 (11th Cir.1986). Within a month after the jury verdict in favor of Allenstein was returned in the Southern Haulers malpractice suit in federal district court, Hughes brought this malpractice action against Allenstein in state court, but, in this action, he claimed that Allenstein and his partner, Martin, had breached their fiduciary duties, had negligently rendered legal advice, and were negligent in the settlement of the Hughes v. Porter lawsuit for only $25,000.
Allenstein moved for dismissal or, in the alternative, for a summary judgment. He raised as grounds: (1) failure to state a cause of action, (2) collateral or equitable estoppel, (3) release, (4) election of remedies, (5) statute of limitations or laches, (6) judgmental immunity, and (7) res judicata. Hughes appeals from the trial court's grant of Allenstein's motion. Ludger Martin's summary judgment motion is still pending in the trial court, or so it would appear from our examination of this record.
While the trial court did not specify the ground upon which it based its summary judgment in favor of Allenstein, the law in Alabama is clear that this Court is bound to sustain a trial court's judgment if there is a valid basis for it. Cole v. Racetrac Petroleum, Inc., 466 So.2d 93 (Ala.1985); Kite v. Kite, 444 So.2d 863 (Ala.Civ.App.1983).
Allenstein argues here that the trial court's judgment can be sustained on either of several legal principles. He says: (1) that Hughes could not split his cause of action, that is, sue for malpractice in federal court and not join all his claims in that action; (2) that Hughes's present action was barred by the doctrines of res judicata or collateral or equitable estoppel; (3) that Hughes's action was barred because Hughes executed a release to settle the second lawsuit and the terms of the release are broad enough to include this negligence action against him.
Having examined the pleadings in this case, we are of the opinion that Hughes's present action was barred by the doctrine of res judicata, and we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
The essential elements of res judicata are (1) a prior judgment on the merits, (2) rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction, (3) with substantial identity of the parties, and (4) with the same cause of action presented in both suits. Wheeler v. First Alabama Bank of Birmingham, 364 So.2d 1190, 1199 (Ala.1978). If these essential elements are met, any issue that was or could have been adjudicated in the prior action is barred from further litigation. Trimble v. Bramco Products, Inc., 351 So.2d 1357 (Ala.1977). Here, Hughes's lawsuit against Allenstein in federal court was decided by a jury on the merits. At the time Hughes filed his lawsuit against Allenstein in federal court, he had executed a release in settlement of the lawsuit against Porter.
Even though we recognize that the malpractice alleged in the federal lawsuit involved only Hughes's claim against Southern Haulers and that the basis of the malpractice claim here is Allenstein's alleged negligence in handling the second claim filed against Porter, we believe that the principles of res judicata apply, because of the following reasons: (1) Both lawsuits, the one against Southern Haulers and the one against Porter, arose out of a single incident, the fatal automobile accident; (2) Both malpractice actions, the one filed in federal court and the one filed here, claim that Allenstein was negligent, but the alleged negligence arises out of one attorney-client relationship and involves one cause of action for wrongful death, even though the alleged tort-feasors were sued separately and not jointly and severally.
Looking at the dealings between Hughes and Allenstein in its entirety, we are of the opinion that any alleged malpractice by Allenstein in handling the second lawsuit was so intertwined with the alleged mishandling of the first lawsuit, that Hughes could, and should have, joined this claim with the one he filed in federal district court. In other words, we hold that, in this case, the principle of res judicata applies.
Having concluded that the instant action is barred by the doctrine of res judicata, we find it unnecessary to address Allenstein's other arguments, including the argument that the release signed in settlement of the Hughes v. Porter suit acts as a release of him as an attorney as well.
The judgment of the trial court is due to be, and it hereby is, affirmed.
ORIGINAL OPINION WITHDRAWN; OPINION SUBSTITUTED; APPLICATION OVERRULED; AFFIRMED.
While I agree that the plaintiff's claim was barred by the principle of res judicata I also believe that the judgment could be affirmed on the ground that the language of the release signed by Hughes in consideration for the dismissal of the Hughes v. Porter lawsuit is broad enough to include the subject matter of this particular malpractice claim. The settlement between Hughes and Porter and Southern Haulers reads:
"[D]o for myself/ourselves, my/our heirs, executors, administrators and assigns, release, acquit and forever discharge Southern Haulers, Inc., George W. Porter, Jr., and any and all other persons, firms and corporations ... from any and all actions, cause of action, claims or demands for damages, costs, loss of...
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