Reed v. University of North Dakota

• Decision Date: 23 February 1999
• Docket Number: No. 980123,980123
• Citation: 589 N.W.2d 880
• Parties: 132 Ed. Law Rep. 928, 1999 ND 25 Jace REED, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA, a North Dakota corporation, John Gasparini, James Scanlan, Craig Perry, Chad Peterson, and the North Dakota Association for the Disabled, Inc., a North Dakota corporation, Defendants and Appellees. Civil
• Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

Page 880

589 N.W.2d 880

132 Ed. Law Rep. 928, 1999 ND 25

Jace REED, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA, a North Dakota corporation, John

Gasparini, James Scanlan, Craig Perry, Chad Peterson, and

the North Dakota Association for the Disabled, Inc., a North

Dakota corporation, Defendants and Appellees.

Civil No. 980123

Supreme Court of North Dakota.

Feb. 23, 1999.

Lauris A. Heyerdahl (argued) and Lisa M. Lamm (on brief), of Abrams & Smith, Minneapolis, MN, and Roger C. Justin (appearance), of Rinke Noonan Law Firm, St. Cloud, MN, for plaintiff and appellant.

Sara B. Gullickson, Special Assistant Attorney General, Fargo, ND, for defendants and appellees University of North Dakota, John Gasparini, James Scanlan, Craig Perry, and Chad Peterson.

Gerald J. Haga, of Camrud, Maddock, Olson & Larson, Ltd., Grand Forks, ND, for defendant and appellee North Dakota Association for the Disabled, Inc.

MARING, Justice.

¶1. Jace Reed appealed a summary judgment dismissing his breach of contract claim against the University of North Dakota (UND) and his negligence and "in concert" claims against the North Dakota Association for the Disabled (NDAD). We hold res judicata bars Reed's breach of contract claim against UND, a valid release exonerates NDAD from liability for its alleged negligence, and, as a matter of law, NDAD did not act "in concert" with UND in committing a tortious act. We affirm.

I

¶2. In 1989 UND offered Reed, a Minnesota high school student, a scholarship to play hockey at UND. Reed signed a national letter of intent and played hockey at UND for two years. On September 15, 1991, as part of UND's preseason hockey conditioning program, Reed ran in a ten kilometer charity road race sponsored by NDAD in Grand Forks. During the race, Reed became severely dehydrated and suffered extensive damage to his kidneys and liver. As a result, Reed required extensive medical care, including one kidney and two liver transplants, and he incurred substantial expenses for medical treatment.

¶3. Reed initially sued UND, John Gasparini, James Scanlan, Craig Perry, and Chad Peterson ¹ in the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota, but voluntarily dismissed that action. Reed then sued NDAD, UND, Gasparini, Scanlan, Perry, and Peterson in Minnesota state court, alleging negligence against all the defendants and breach of contract against UND. All the defendants moved to dismiss the Minnesota action on jurisdictional grounds. The Minnesota trial court dismissed Reed's claim against NDAD for lack of personal jurisdiction, but allowed him to complete discovery on several issues regarding the other five defendants. Meanwhile, this Court abolished sovereign immunity in Bulman v. Hulstrand Const. Co., Inc., 521 N.W.2d 632 (N.D.1994), and Reed then sued all six defendants in North Dakota state court, alleging the same claims against them. The North Dakota trial court stayed that action pending resolution of the Minnesota case.

¶4. In the Minnesota action, the UND defendants renewed their motion to dismiss, arguing lack of personal jurisdiction, forum non conveniens, comity, choice of law, sovereign immunity, and discretionary immunity. The Minnesota trial court dismissed Reed's claims against Gasparini and Scanlan on the ground of forum non conveniens. The trial court also dismissed Reed's claims against UND, Perry, and Peterson for lack of personal jurisdiction. Reed appealed, arguing the trial court erred in dismissing his claims against UND, Gasparini, and Scanlan.

¶5. The Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed, concluding North Dakota law applied to Reed's Minnesota action and holding the Minnesota trial court properly dismissed Reed's personal injury claims against UND, Gasparini, and Scanlan on the basis of comity. Reed v. University of North Dakota, et al., 543 N.W.2d 106, 108-10 (Minn.App.1996). The court of appeals also held Reed's contract claim against UND failed as a matter of law. Id. at 110. The Minnesota Supreme Court denied Reed's request to review the court of appeals' decision.

¶6. The North Dakota trial court then dismissed Reed's tort claims against UND, Gasparini, Scanlan, Perry, and Peterson on the basis of sovereign immunity and granted UND's motion for summary judgment on Reed's breach of contract claim against UND. The court allowed Reed to amend his complaint against NDAD to allege NDAD and UND had acted in concert and NDAD was jointly liable for damages attributable to UND's negligence. The court then granted summary judgment dismissing Reed's claims against NDAD. Reed appealed.

II

¶7. We review this appeal under our standards for summary judgment, which is a procedural device for the prompt and expeditious disposition of a controversy without a trial if either party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, if no dispute exists as to either the material facts or the inferences to be drawn from undisputed facts, or if resolving disputed facts would not alter the result. Diegel v. City of West Fargo, 546 N.W.2d 367, 370 (N.D.1996). In considering a motion for summary judgment, the evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion, and that party must be given the benefit of all favorable inferences which reasonably can be drawn from the evidence. Id.

III

¶8. Reed asserts his breach of contract claim against UND is not barred by res judicata, because the Minnesota action did not result in a decision on the merits by a court of competent jurisdiction. He argues the Minnesota court lacked personal jurisdiction over UND and therefore lacked authority to rule on the merits of his contract claim against UND.

¶9. Res judicata affords finality to the resolution of a legal dispute, which in turn increases certainty, discourages multiple litigation, and conserves scarce judicial resources. K & K Implement, Inc. v. First Nat'l Bank, 501 N.W.2d 734, 737-38 (N.D.1993). In Hofsommer v. Hofsommer, 488 N.W.2d 380, 383 (N.D.1992) (citations omitted), we explained the related concepts of res judicata and collateral estoppel:

Although collateral estoppel is a branch of the broader law of res judicata, the doctrines are not the same. Res judicata, or claim preclusion, is the more sweeping doctrine that prohibits the relitigation of claims or issues that were raised or could have been raised in a prior action between the same parties or their privies and which was resolved by final judgment in a court of competent jurisdiction.... On the other hand, collateral estoppel, or issue preclusion, generally forecloses the relitigation, in a second action based on a different claim, of particular issues of either fact or law which were, or by logical and necessary implication must have been, litigated and determined in the prior suit.

¶10. Res judicata precludes the same parties or their privies from relitigating claims that were raised or could have been raised in a prior action resulting in a final judgment on the merits by a court of competent jurisdiction. K & K Implement, 501 N.W.2d at 738. The applicability of res judicata is a question of law. Hofsommer, 488 N.W.2d at 383.

¶11. Reed concedes the Minnesota action was a final decision between the same parties. Relying on Dolajak v. State Auto. & Cas. Underwriters, 252 N.W.2d 180 (N.D.1977), he argues language from the Minnesota trial court's decision establishes his contract claim against UND was not decided on the merits in Minnesota. ²

¶12. In Dolajak, this Court considered the effect of a Montana decision on a subsequent North Dakota proceeding. In that case, the plaintiffs sued a North Dakota contractor, Dolajak, in Montana state court for breach of contract and negligence in erecting a silo. A Montana jury awarded the plaintiffs damages, and the Montana Supreme Court affirmed. See Bos v. Dolajak, 167 Mont. 1, 534 P.2d 1258 (1975). Dolajak then sued his insurer in North Dakota state court, seeking insurance coverage for the Montana verdict. Dolajak's insurer defended under a clause of its policy excluding coverage for negligence, and argued the Montana decision was res judicata because it awarded damages for Dolajak's negligence.

¶13. This Court examined the Montana decision to ascertain whether it decided Dolajak's negligence on the merits. Dolajak, 252 N.W.2d at 183-84. We said the Montana jury had been instructed on both negligence and breach of contract and could have awarded damages on either, or both, theories. Id. We concluded, in the absence of a special jury interrogatory identifying the basis for the damages award in Montana, the Montana decision did not preclude Dolajak's North Dakota action against his insurer to decide the coverage issue:

In determining whether or not the matter is res judicata it is not sufficient to merely find that it could have been included or could have been determined, but it is necessary to find that it was actually decided and determined. The record before us does not provide us with this answer. The record shows that Dolajak was a party to the proceedings in Montana and is a party to the proceedings in the North Dakota case. It further discloses that the subject matter in the North Dakota case is similar to that of the Montana case, but this is not sufficient.

We do not have any assurance that the jury in the Montana case decided the question of damages against Dolajak on the basis of breach of contract or on negligence. The question we have before us is whether or not Dolajak was negligent so as to render the insurance policy inoperative. With the state of the record before us we can only speculate that negligence was considered by the jury. We believe that speculation is not sufficient and falls short of meeting the standards of res judicata.

Id. at 184 (emphasis in original).

¶14. Dolajak is distinguishable because there we had to speculate about the basis of the Montana jury verdict. Here, the Minnesota Court of Appeals explicitly...