Kessler v. Townsley
Citation | 182 So. 232,132 Fla. 744 |
Parties | KESSLER v. TOWNSLEY et al. |
Decision Date | 13 June 1938 |
Court | United States State Supreme Court of Florida |
Error to Circuit Court, Volusia County; H. B. Frederick, Judge.
Suit by Vera Kerr Kessler against Frank Townsley and others. To review a judgment sustaining defendants' demurrer plaintiff brings error.
Affirmed.
COUNSEL Ray Selden, of Daytona Beach, for plaintiff in error.
B. F Brass, of Daytona Beach, for defendants in error.
The writ of error brings for review a judgment on demurrer sustained to amended declaration in five counts.
Counts 1 and 2 showed on the face thereof that they were based on an alleged cause of action which had been pleaded by the plaintiff against the identical defendants in a former suit between the same parties as plaintiff and defendants respectively. That the issues presented had been determined in the former suit against the plaintiff; that the judgment against the plaintiff in the former suit had become absolute and that the issues sought to be presented by these counts of the declaration have become by judgment res adjudicata. See Gray v. Gray, 91 Fla. 103, 107 So. 261; Jones v Morgan, 59 Fla. 542, 52 So. 140; Prall v. Prall, 58 Fla. 496, 50 So. 867, 26 L.R.A.,N.S., 577.
Paragraph 3 of Section 2928, R.G.S., section 4648 C.G.L., has no application here.
The defense of res adjudicata may be raised by demurrer where facts supporting it appear on the face of the pleadings. 34 C.J. 1058; Keen v. Brown, 46 Fla. 487, 35 So. 401.
The third, fourth and fifth counts of the declaration are based on an alleged conspiracy to commit perjury and the alleged commission of perjury by the defendants husband and wife in the trial of the former suit to defeat the action of plaintiff.
Plaintiff in error conceded that such an action is condemned as untenable by the great weight of authority. In 26 R.C.L. 770, it is said:
In Catlett v. Chestnut et al., 108 Fla. 475, 146 So. 547, we recognized this principle, saying (page 548):
'Public policy, and the safe administration of justice, require that circuit judges, witnesses, and parties to pending legal controversies, be privileged against any restraint sought to be imposed upon them by suits for damages brought against them for...
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...the finality of judgments, avoiding duplicative litigation, and recognizing the difficulty in calculating damages. Kessler v. Townsley, 132 Fla. 744, 182 So. 232, 232 (1938) (res judicata); OMI, 918 P.2d at 1290, 1293 (duplicative litigation and speculative damages). Similarly, recognizing ......
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...Inst. 228, 2 Roll.Rep. 198). See, e.g., Droppelman v. Horsley, 372 F.2d 249 (10th Cir.1967) (applying Oklahoma law); Kessler v. Townsley, 132 Fla. 744, 182 So. 232 (1938); Hocker v. Welti, 239 Ill.App. 392 (1926); Hermon v. Jobes, 198 N.E. 316 (Ind.1935); Siler v. Proctor Coal Co., 272 Ky. ......
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