Staples v. Jenkins
| Decision Date | 10 November 1936 |
| Docket Number | Case Number: 26961 |
| Parties | STAPLES v. JENKINS |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
¶0 1. JUDGMENT - Conclusiveness of Former Adjudication on Matter in Issue.
A fact or question which was actually and directly in issue in a former suit, and was there judicially passed upon and determined by a court of competent jurisdiction, is conclusively settled by the judgment therein, so far as concerns the parties to that action, and a person in privity with them, and cannot be again litigated in any future action between such parties or privies, in the same court, or in any other court of concurrent jurisdiction upon the same or a different cause of action.
2. SAME - Conclusiveness as to Matters Which Could Have Been Litigated.
A final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction is conclusive between the parties and their privies in a subsequent action involving the same subject-matter, not only as to all matters actually litigated and determined in the former action, but as to all matters germane to issues, which could or might have been litigated and determined therein.
Appeal from District Court, Craig County; N.B. Johnson, Judge.
Action by J.H.L. Staples, as plaintiff, against C.C. Jenkins, J.E. Coats, C.C. Henley, and C.C. Jenkins, J.E. Coals and C.C. Henley, as trustees of the First National Bank of Bluejacket, a defunct and dissolved banking corporation, G.W. Fincannon, W.T. Masters, H.E. Holden, R.L. Davies, Ben Horton, Herman Lightfoot, R. Todd, Ed Mercer, Mrs. John Fogle, J.E. Newenhaus, R.C. Telliver, C.L. Holden, A.P. Funk, A. Holden, T.J. Ayres, as administrator and executor of the estate of T.H. Butler, to vacate and set aside a judgment theretofore rendered by the district court of Craig county, Okla., in an action wherein the First National Bank of Bluejacket, Okla., was plaintiff and G. W. Fincannon et al., including the said J.H.L. Staples, were defendants, and to vacate all proceedings based on said judgment, including the issuance of execution, levy upon real property, the sale, return of sale and order confirming sale. From a judgment fur defendants, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.
M.W. Hinch and D.H. Cotten, for plaintiff in error.
Jesse L. Ballard and Richard L. Wheatlcy, for defendant in error.
¶1 J.H.L. Staples, the plaintiff below, filed this action for the purpose of vacating a certain judgment which was rendered against himself and others on May 14, 1932, in the district court of Craig county, Okla., in case No, 5371 of that court, in which the First National Bank of Blue-jacket, Okla., was the plaintiff and Staples et al. were defendants. The judgment in case No. 5371 was entered upon a supersedeas bond given in case No. 4743, ill the district court of Craig county, Okla., in which G. W. Fincannon et al. were plaintiffs anti the First National Bank of Bluejacket Okla., et al. were defendants.
¶2 It appears that the judgment rendered in cause No. 4748, and stayed by the supersedeas bond, was affirmed on the 8th day of May, 1928, by this court, and rehearing was denied on November 13, 1928. Fincannon et al v. First National Bank of Bluejacket, 133 Okla. 123, 271 P. 641.
¶3 Thereafter, on March 29, 1929, the First National Bank of Bluejacket instituted the action above referred to on the supersedeas bond, the action being against the principal obligors anti the sureties. It appears from the record that upon the filing of said suit, summons was regularly issued and served upon the defendants therein, including J.H.L. Staples. The defendants, including Staples, later appeared in the cause by motion to require the plaintiff to make its petition more specific, which being overruled, defendants demurred, and upon the demurrer being overruled they filed a motion to dismiss, and upon the overruling of the motion they and each of them, including the plaintiff in error, filed their answer. Upon the issues being thus joined, the record shows a jury was waived and the cause was tried before the court and resulted in a judgment for the plaintiff, and against all of the defendants except some who had died and against whom the action had abated. The judgment against the other defendants, including Staples, was for $8,838.50, with interest and costs. Thereafter the defendants, including Staples, filed their motion for a new trial, which was overruled, no appeal was taken from this judgment, and the same became final.
¶4 After an execution was issued, a levy made upon the property of Staples, a sale of the property, a return of the sale, and an order confirming the sale, and on November 20, 1934, Staples filed this action and also filed a motion in case No. 5371, in which judgment was rendered on the supersedeas bond, to have said court vacate this judgment. Upon the petition and motion to vacate being filed, a response was filed thereto and the matter was presented to the court upon the defendants' motion for judgment on the pleadings, the causes wherein the plaintiff filed his petition to vacate and motion to vacate having been by agreement consolidated.
¶5 The plaintiff, by his petition and motion, attacked the judgment on the supersedeas bond upon various grounds, among them being that at the time of the rendition of the judgment, the First National Bank of Bluejacket was a dissolved corporation, and that by reason thereof the court was without jurisdiction to render the judgment; that the Bluejacket State Bank, against which the original judgment had been rendered and for which the supersedeas bond had been given, was a so a dissolved corporation at the time the judgment was rendered, because the period of its existence had expired, and that the judgment had not been revived; that the trial court in the original case had modified its judgment after the term; that Staples had limited his liability in the supersedeas bond to the sum of $4,748.20; that a general judgment was rendered in the action on the supersedeas bond against the principal and the sureties without making Staples secondarily liable thereon. For the further reason that at the time Staples signed the supersedeas bond for the Bluejacket State Bank, principal obligor, such corporation was solvent and continued solvent and fully able to pay off and discharge all of its obligations until its dissolution, and that the plaintiff voluntarily released said bank from its obligation; that had it not done so, said bank would have paid said judgment; further, that the original judgment on which the supersedeas bond was given was rendered on the 23rd day of June, 1926; that the same became dormant on the 1st day of January, 1928, at the time of the dissolution of the judgment debtor, Bluejacket State Bank; that it continued dormant without being revived until the expiration of five years from The date of the rendition thereof; that at the time suit was filed on the supersedeas bond, more titan one year had expired from and after the time when said judgment could have been first revived.
¶6 The defendants in their answer to the petition and motion filed by Staples to vacate and set aside the judgment in cause No. 5371, denied generally and specifically all of the allegations contained in the petition and in the motion, and alleged that the said Staples was active in the defense of the action; that he appeared in person and by attorney; that he filed pleadings, all of which are referred to and set out as exhibits to the answer; that after judgment he filed a motion for a new trial. The answer then states:
"That thereafter said motion for a new trial was by the court heard and overruled and the time has now long since expired for an appeal in said cause and said judgment rendered on the 14th day of May, 1932, has long since become final; and defendants and each of them further allege and say that the issues raised by the Detitioner, J.H.L. Staples, in his petition and his motion to vacate said judgment rendered on the 14th day of May, 1932, were raised by the pleadings in the trial of this cause by the petitioner, J.H.L. Staples, defendant therein, and if not raised they...
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