Woods v. Delta Air Lines, Inc.

Decision Date09 July 1976
Docket NumberNo. 31102,31102
Citation237 Ga. 332,227 S.E.2d 376
PartiesLarry P. WOODS v. DELTA AIR LINES, INC., et al.
CourtGeorgia Supreme Court

Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy, Edward E. Dorsey, Daryll Love, Atlanta, for appellees.

UNDERCOFLER, Presiding Justice.

This is a certiorari to the Court of Appeals in Delta Air Lines, Inc. v. Woods, 137 Ga.App. 693, 224 S.E.2d 763 (1976).

The essential facts are that the State Board of Workmen's Compensation in a claim against Delta found the plaintiff to be totally disabled; thereafter the plaintiff brought the present action to recover upon Delta's 'Family Care Disability and Service Plan;' the trial court granted a partial summary judgment decreeing that plaintiff was totally disabled under the 'Plan' because the award of the 'Compensation Board' operated as res judicata or estoppel by judgment as to such fact.

The Court of Appeals reversed. It held that res judicata was not applicable here and that 'estoppel by judgment, if applicable, is ineffective against' the Georgia constitutional right to trial by jury.

We vacate the Court of Appeals opinion but affirm its judgment of reversal for the reasons stated herein.

We hold that the doctrines of res judicata and estoppel by judgment are applicable to awards of the State Board of Workmen's Compensation on all questions of fact in matters in which it has jurisdiction. See Code § 114-710; Jones v. American Mutual Liability Ins. Co., 48 Ga.App. 351, 353, 172 S.E. 600 (1933); Noles v. National Engine Rebuilding Co., Inc., 119 Ga.App. 833, 169 S.E.2d 185 (1969).

The Georgia constitutional right to trial by jury is not applicable to the proceedings of the State Board of Workmen's Compensation. Metropolitan Casualty Ins. Co. of N.Y. v. Huhn, 165 Ga. 667, 671, 142 S.E. 121 (1927). Therefore, the denial of a jury trial does not render these doctrines of res judicata and estoppel by judgment as to facts ineffective. '. . . res judicata applies only as between the same parties and upon the same cause of action to matters which were actually in issue or which under the rules of law could have been put in issue, estoppel by judgment applies as between the same parties upon any cause of action to matters which were directly decided in the former suit.' Brown v. Brown, 212 Ga. 202, 204, 91 S.E.2d 495, 497 (1956).

We agree with the Court of Appeals that the doctrine of res judicata is not applicable in the instant case because the...

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19 cases
  • In re Betts
    • United States
    • U.S. Bankruptcy Court — Northern District of Georgia
    • April 6, 1994
    ...full preclusive effect. Georgia Casualty & Surety Co. v. Randall, 162 Ga. App. 532, 292 S.E.2d 118 (1982); Woods v. Delta Airlines, Inc., 237 Ga. 332, 227 S.E.2d 376 (1976); see also O.C.G.A. § Based on the record presented, the Court finds that the workers' compensation issues resolved by ......
  • Gorin v. Osborne
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit
    • March 29, 1985
    ...accord preclusive effect to the decision of an administrative tribunal as affirmed by the Superior Court. See Woods v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 237 Ga. 332, 227 S.E.2d 376 (1976) (doctrines of res judicata and estoppel by judgment are applicable to awards of the State Board of Workmen's Compe......
  • Allen v. King Plow Co.
    • United States
    • Georgia Court of Appeals
    • July 16, 1997
    ...the same parties upon any cause of action to matters which were directly decided in the former suit.' [Cit.]" Woods v. Delta Air Lines, 237 Ga. 332, 333, 227 S.E.2d 376 (1976). 3. Even if the record shows without dispute of material facts that King Plow was not a " '[p]erson responsible for......
  • Banks v. State
    • United States
    • Georgia Supreme Court
    • July 13, 1976
    ... ... asked to report to authorities that he had located two bodies in the woods. The appellant did not offer the testimony of Grace Slaughter concerning ... ...
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