Lewis v. Aubrey

• Decision Date: 22 June 1965
• Docket Number: No. 41492,41492
• Citation: 404 P.2d 1005
• Parties: John L. LEWIS, Benjamin Jesse, and American Casualty Company, Petitioners, v. Bob AUBREY, Judge of the Superior Court of Seminole County, Oklahoma, Respondent.
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

Page 1005

404 P.2d 1005

1965 OK 103

John L. LEWIS, Benjamin Jesse, and American Casualty Company, Petitioners, v. Bob AUBREY, Judge of the Superior Court of Seminole County Oklahoma, Respondent.

No. 41492.

Supreme Court of Oklahoma.

June 22, 1965.

Syllabus by the Court

1. Under the doctrine of collateral estoppel, a judgment, whether in favor of the plaintiff or of the defendant, is conclusive in a subsequent action between the parties on a different claim, as to issues raised in the subsequent action which were actually litigated and determined in the prior action; the test in each case is whether a given issue was necessary to the determination made in the former trial.

2. Measured by the above test, the general verdict, and judgment in accord therewith, heretofore entered in Cause No. 23,404, styled: 'JOHN L. LEWIS, Plaintiff, vs. PATSY JANE STILES and MARTIN STILES', in the District Court within and for Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, is res judicata, under the doctrine of collateral estoppel, of Cause No. 9995, styled: 'PATSYL JANE STILES vs. JOHN L. LEWIS, BENJAMIN JESSE and AMERICAN CASUALTY COMPANY' of the Superior Court within and for Seminole County, Oklahoma, as long as said Pontotoc County judgment stands of record and has not been nullified.

Application and petition of petitioners to the Supreme Court of Oklahoma to assume jurisdiction and issue a writ of prohibition against the respondent judge. Writ granted.

Conn, Mayhue, Kerr & Harris, by R. Burl Harris, Ada, for petitioners.

Lewis M. Watson, Ada, for respondent.

BLACKBIRD, Justice.

This case involves a question of what effect, if any, a verdict and judgment for damages obtained in one district court by the owner of one of the two motor vehicles involved in a collision, against the owner and driver of the other vehicle, has, as a bar, to an action filed by the latter driver in another court to recover damages against the judgment creditor in the previous judgment for personal injuries on account of the creditor's alleged negligence in causing the same collision.

The collision between the two vehicles--a truck owned by a Seminole County resident named John L. Lewis, operated by one Benjamin Jesse--and a 1954 model Ford automobile owned by Martin Stiles and operated by Patsy Jane Stiles, both Pontotoc County residents--occurred on November 22, 1963, at a highway intersection in the latter County.

Thereafter, on January 20, 1964, Lewis, as plaintiff, filed his petition in Cause No. 23404 of the District Court in Pontotoc County, naming Patsy Jane Stiles and Martin Stiles, as defendants, and alleging, in substance, that the collision was caused by Miss Stiles' negligent driving and resulted in plaintiff's truck being damaged in the sum of $536.94, and praying judgment against said defendants for that amount.

On the same day, Patsy Jane Stiles, as plaintiff, filed her petition in Cause No. 9995 of the Superior Court in Seminole County, naming Lewis, his driver, Jesse, and Lewis's alleged insurance carrier, American Casualty Company, as defendants, and alleging, in brief substance, that the same collision was caused by Jesse's negligence, and resulted in personal injuries to her, for which she was entitled to various items of damages totaling $28,461.90 against Lewis, Jesse, and American Casualty Company.

After unsuccessful attempts to obtain dismissal of the Seminole County action, on the ground that the Pontotoc County District Court had exclusive jurisdiction of all actions for negligence arising out of the collision, Lewis applied to this Court to assume jurisdiction and issue a writ of prohibition preventing the Seminole County Superior Court from proceeding further in its Cause No. 9995, supra. This court denied the application by its Order of June 29, 1964.

Thereafter, in March, 1965, both Martin, and Patsy Jane, Stiles filed answers, but only Martin Stiles filed a cross petition, in cause No. 32404, supra. In his cross petition, the latter alleged that the collision was caused by the negligence of Lewis's driver, Benjamin Jesse, and prayed for judgment against Lewis in the sum of $165.00 as damages to the Stiles' truck and costs of the action.

It was at the close of the trial of Cause No. 23404, supra, on March 29, 1965, that the judgment, based upon a general verdict, was rendered in favor of the plaintiff therein, Lewis, against Patsy Jane Stiles and Martin Stiles, as defendants. The latter had commenced an appeal to this court from that Pontotoc County judgment when the Seminole County Superior Court's Cause No. 9995, supra, was set for trial in May of this year.

On April 30, 1965, Lewis, Jesse, and American Casualty Company filed in Cause No. 9995, supra, a pleading entitled: 'MOTION TO STRIKE CAUSE FROM TRIAL ASSIGNMENT AND TO HOLD IN ABEYANCE', in which they apprised the Seminole court of the verdict and judgment entered less than one month previously in the Pontotoc Court's No. 23404, supra, and of the pendency of the appeal from said judgment, and asked the court to strike said Cause No. 9995 from its trial assignment and 'to hold said cause in abeyance until such time as the judgment rendered in Cause No. 23,404 in the District Court of Pontotoc County, styled JOHN L. LEWIS vs. PATSY JANE STILES--becomes final, or until such time as the Supreme Court of the State of Oklahoma upsets, reverses, or vacates the judgment rendered in Cause No. 23,404 in the District Court of Pontotoc County, entitled JOHN L. LEWIS vs. PATSY JANE STILES now on appeal * * *'. This motion was overruled the same day.

Thereafter, on May 5, 1965, Lewis, Jesse, and American Casualty Company, hereinafter referred to as 'petitioners', applied to this Court to assume original jurisdiction of the controversy, and petitioned us to issue a writ of prohibition against the Judge of the Superior Court of Seminole County, hereinafter referred to as 'respondent'. The petition alleges, among other things, that, in accord with his ruling on the above-described motion to postpone trial of cause No. 9995, supra, the respondent judge will require petitioners to again litigate in that case ',* * * the question, fact or issue (that) was distinctly determined * * *' in cause No. 23404, supra. Petitioners further allege:

'That such action is an abuse of the judicial power and contrary to the public policy and Laws of the State of Oklahoma and unless prohibited by this Honorable Court, the Respondent will proceed to litigate a question, issue or fact previously determined between the said parties, arising out of the same transaction, in a court of competent jurisdiction.'

In support of their position here, petitioners contend, in substance, that the judgment Lewis obtained against Patsy Jane Stiles and Martin Stiles in the Pontotoc County action (No. 23404, supra) if, as, and when it becomes final, settles the issue of whose negligence caused the subject collision. It is said, in effect, that since those judgment debtors were thereby established as the parties responsible for the collision, and that since said judgment, under the theory of estoppel by judgment (described in such cases as Boy Scouts of America, Inc. v. Thompson, (Okl.) 380 P.2d 705, Wilkey v. Southwestern Greyhound Lines, Inc., (Okl.) 322 P.2d 1058, and Wilson v. Lee Evans Drilling Co., (Okl.) 322 P.2d 630) if it is affirmed by this Court in the pending appeal (or otherwise becomes final) will estop Patsy Jane Stiles from effectively making the contrary claim (in the Seminole County action) that Lewis (instead of her and/or Martin Stiles) was responsible for the collision, this Court should cause the Seminole County action to be held in abeyance pending disposition of said appeal, and/or resolution of the question of said judgment's finality.

Respondent's attempts...