Saporta v. Stephenson
| Decision Date | 07 January 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 84-1735,84-1735 |
| Citation | 751 F.2d 312 |
| Parties | Dr. Jose A. SAPORTA, as Conservator and Guardian of Victor J. Saporta, an Incapacitated Protected Person, Appellant, v. Daryl R. STEPHENSON, M.D., Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Joni R. Kerr, William M. Lamson, Jr., Omaha, Neb., for appellant.
Daniel D. Jewell, Norfolk, Neb., for appellee.
Before HEANEY, ROSS and FAGG, Circuit Judges.
Dr. Jose A. Saporta appeals from the district court's order granting Dr. Stephenson's motion for summary judgment. For reversal, Saporta argues that the district court erred in ruling that he was collaterally estopped from litigating the issue of Dr. Stephenson's negligence. We affirm.
Victor Saporta, Dr. Saporta's son, was committed to the Norfolk Regional Center (Center), a state hospital established for the treatment of mental diseases. Approximately two months after he had been committed, Victor walked away from the Center and attempted to commit suicide by throwing himself in front of a truck. As a result, Victor was seriously injured.
Dr. Saporta, as Victor's guardian and conservator, filed suit against the State of Nebraska under Nebraska's Tort Claims Act, Neb.Rev.Stat. Secs. 81-8,209 et seq. (1981), seeking damages for the alleged negligence of the state's employees at the Center. One of the state's defenses was that it could not be liable for Dr. Stephenson's negligence because he was an independent contractor and therefore not an employee of the state within the definition of the Act. See Neb.Rev.Stat. Secs. 81-8,209, 81-8,210(3) (1981). Because Dr. Saporta feared that the issue of Dr. Stephenson's employment status would not be resolved before the statute of limitations had run on a separate action against Dr. Stephenson, Dr. Saporta also filed this diversity action.
After a five day trial in the state action, the court found that Dr. Saporta "failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the staff doctors, including Dr. Daryl L. Stephenson, nurses, human resource technicians and other providers of care at the Norfolk Regional Center failed in any respect to meet the applicable standard of care in the care and treatment of Victor Saporta * * *." (Emphasis added.) Thereafter, Dr. Stephenson moved for summary judgment in the district court action, contending that the judgment of the state trial court was a full and final determination on the issue of Dr. Stephenson's alleged negligence, thereby precluding any further litigation on the issue. The district court granted this motion.
Collateral estoppel is an issue of substantive law, and therefore a district court in a diversity action must apply the forum state's common law rule. Kuehn v. Garcia, 608 F.2d 1143, 1147 (8th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 943, 100 S.Ct. 1340 63 L.Ed.2d 777 (1980). To preclude further litigation...
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Ashton Optical Imports v. Incite Intern., Inc, 8:01CV554.
...disposition of the prior action, and the determination was necessary and essential to the resulting judgment. Id.; Saporta v. Stephenson, 751 F.2d 312, 314 (8th Cir. 1985). 3. In the related context of res judicata, the common law notion of privity, "that claim preclusion only works against......
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...law, which we follow on the issue of whether Webster's Gerstein claim is precluded by his subsequent conviction, see Saporta v. Stephenson, 751 F.2d 312, 313 (8th Cir.1985), provides that collateral estoppel applies when the issue sought to be precluded (1) is identical to an issue involved......
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Lane v. Sullivan, 89-2037
...and was not given preclusive effect), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1055, 107 S.Ct. 929, 93 L.Ed.2d 981 (1987); Saporta v. Stephenson, 751 F.2d 312 (8th Cir.1985) (per curiam) (Nebraska state court judgment on doctor's negligence given preclusive effect); Kuehn v. Garcia, 608 F.2d 1143 (8th Cir.19......