Medearis v. Miller

• Decision Date: 28 May 1981
• Docket Number: No. 9928,9928
• Parties: Wayne B. MEDEARIS, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Harley MILLER, Harvey Schilling, and Duane Traynor, Defendants, Third PartyPlaintiffs and Appellees, v. Kenneth NELSON, individually and as agent for Main Realty; Boyd Township; andBurleigh County, Third Party Defendants and Appellees. Civ.
• Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

Page 200

306 N.W.2d 200

Wayne B. MEDEARIS, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Harley MILLER, Harvey Schilling, and Duane Traynor, Defendants, Third PartyPlaintiffs and Appellees, v. Kenneth NELSON, individually and as agent for Main Realty;

Boyd Township; andBurleigh County, Third Party

Defendants and Appellees.

Civ. No. 9928.

Supreme Court of North Dakota.

May 28, 1981.

Rausch & Rausch, Bismarck, for plaintiff and appellant; argued by Richard P. Rausch, Bismarck.

Wheeler, Wolf, Peterson & McDonald, Bismarck, for defendants, third party plaintiffs and appellees; argued by David L. Peterson, Bismarck.

Gregory W. Tschider, Jr., Bismarck, for third party defendant and appellee Kenneth Nelson, individually and as agent for Main Realty; argued by Gregory W. Tschider, Jr., Bismarck.

John M. Olson, argued, State's Atty., Bismarck, for third party defendant and appellee Burleigh County.

Chapman & Chapman, Bismarck, for third party defendant and appellee Boyd Township; appearance by Daniel J. Chapman, Bismarck.

ERICKSTAD, Chief Justice.

This case involves a determination of whether or not the judgment in favor of Wayne B. Medearis in a prior action against Frank and Dorothy Glasser bars this action against Harley Miller, Harvey Schilling, and Duane Traynor (the developers). The trial court determined that it does and issued a summary judgment dismissing Medearis' action with prejudice. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand with instructions.

The relevant facts are as follows. Medearis owns property in Burleigh County which lies east of Bismarck and adjacent to property owned by the developers. The developers, desiring a road along the section line running east-west on the southern boundary line of Medearis' property, sought and received a decision by Burleigh County to construct such a road. During September, 1978, Frank and Dorothy Glasser, a married couple who at that time possessed a contract for deed to purchase Medearis' property, gave Burleigh County an easement over 1.646 acres of the property for construction of the road. The developers' agents, after acquiring the easement from the Glassers for Burleigh County, entered Medearis' property and relocated a fence thereon to permit construction of the road. Thereafter, the road was constructed by agents of Burleigh County.

Upon learning of these events, Medearis filed an action in the District Court of Burleigh County against Frank and Dorothy Glasser, Burleigh County, and Boyd Township, alleging that the entries upon his property to relocate the fence and to construct the road constituted trespasses and also alleging that as a result of the road construction there was erosion of the new road embankment which caused dirt deposits on and damage to his property. For all of the alleged damage to Medearis' property he sought a total of $6,000.00 damages.

The trial court determined that the easement given to Burleigh County by the Glassers was null and void and that the entries upon Medearis' property to relocate the fence and to construct the road constituted trespasses. However, with regard to the alleged erosion damage, the trial court determined that there was insufficient evidence that construction of the road caused any erosion to permit a recovery of those damages. The court then held that the Glassers, having executed an invalid easement, were liable for the entire damage resulting from the trespasses in the amount of $2,485.00.

After obtaining a satisfaction of judgment in the first action, Medearis brought a second action in the District Court of Burleigh County, this one against the developers, alleging that they, through their agents, caused the fence to be relocated and also caused Burleigh County to construct the road. Medearis further alleged that all of this was done by the developers in an oppressive and malicious manner entitling him to punitive damages, and he sought against them total damages in the amount of $8,000.00.

The trial court ruled that, as a result of the judgment in the first action, Medearis had received a full recovery for all damages claimed in the second action except the alleged erosion damage. The court held that Medearis was barred from bringing this action for those damages previously recovered against the Glassers because Medearis was not entitled to more than one full recovery. The court also held that Medearis was precluded from bringing an action against the developers on the erosion claim because the issue of whether or not erosion had resulted from construction of the road had been litigated in the first action, and a determination had been made against Medearis. Consequently, the trial court entered a summary judgment dismissing Medearis' action, and Medearis now brings this appeal asserting that the judgment in the first action against the Glassers should not preclude this action against the developers.

It is well-settled that a party is entitled to receive only one recovery for a single harm caused by multiple parties and that if he receives a satisfaction of judgment against one of the parties, he is precluded from seeking further recovery from the others. McFadden v. Turner, 159 N.J.Super. 360, 388 A.2d 244 (1978); Medley v. Webb, 288 So.2d 846 (Miss.1974); Rager v. Superior Coach Sales & Service of Arizona, 110 Ariz. 188, 516 P.2d 324 (1973); Arenson v. Ford Motor Company, 254 So.2d 812 (Fla.App.1971); Welbourn v. Firemen's Insurance Company, 253 Or. 45, 453 P.2d 167 (1969).

In Medearis' action against the Glassers, Burleigh County, and Boyd Township the trial court determined that the Glassers, having executed an invalid easement over Medearis' property, were liable for the entire damage caused by the trespasses on his property. The court expressed this determination with the following findings of fact:

"V.

"The Plaintiff's fences were removed and then reconstructed by agents of the partners and developers hereinabove noted.

"VI.

"After the purported easement was secured and placed of record, Burleigh County constructed the road which is one-half mile in length on and along the south boundary line of Plaintiff's property.

"VIII.

"The trespasses which have occurred have damaged Plaintiff's property at the sum of $1,500.00 an acre and the amount damaged is 1.646 acres. This damage was a result of the purported easement granted by the Defendants Glasser."

The trial court then made the following conclusion of law:

"III.

"The Plaintiff is entitled to judgment as against Frank R. Glasser and Dorothy Glasser in the sum of $2,485.00 for the trespass and the resulting damages to Plaintiff's land."

Because Medearis recovered from the Glassers all damages resulting from the trespasses, whereby his fence was relocated and the road was constructed, the trial court correctly concluded that Medearis is precluded from bringing an action against the developers for those damages.

In his prior action Medearis alleged that, as a result of the road construction by Burleigh County, erosion of the new road embankment occurred which caused dirt to be deposited upon and to thereby damage his property. The trial court, refusing to allow damages on that claim, determined that Medearis had failed to prove that the alleged damage occurred as a result of the road construction.

In this action against the developers, Medearis also seeks damages allegedly resulting from erosion of the new road embankment on the theory that the developers caused the road to be constructed. For Medearis to recover on this claim the erosion damage would have to have been caused by Burleigh County's construction of the road; however, Medearis failed to prove that fact in his prior action. Because the developers' liability, if any, is derivative of Burleigh County's liability, the trial court correctly concluded that Medearis is not entitled to a second opportunity of proving in this action that erosion damage was caused by Burleigh County's construction of the road. See, Lober v. Moore, 417 F.2d 714 (D.C.Cir.1969); Bronxville Palmer, Ltd. v. State, 18 N.Y.2d 560, 223 N.E.2d 887, 277 N.Y.S.2d 402 (1966).

In Palmer, supra, a property owner brought a trespass action against the state alleging that a trespass had occurred on his property during construction of a parkway. The property owner had brought a prior action against the contractors who had performed the work for the state, based on the same physical acts of trespass and for the same damages, and that action had terminated in a judgment for those defendants. The New York Court of Appeals, in upholding a dismissal of the property owner's action against the state, stated the applicable rule as follows:

"If a purported trespass, wrongful in its nature as constituting an invasion of claimant's land, was held not sustained against contractors carrying out a public work for the State, the adjudication against the owner would normally work an...