ALFRED JEFF DAIGNEAU, APPELLANT,
v.
THE NATIONAL CASH REGISTER COMPANY, A FOREIGN CORPORATION, AUTHORIZED TO DO BUSINESS IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA, AND HAROLD L. ORY, APPELLEES
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Alfred Daigneau appeals a jury verdict loss in a personal injury action arising from a multi-vehicle collision in Louisiana. The central issue is whether Daigneau, a non-party to his employer's separate federal judgment against the same defendant (National Cash Register Company), could use the doctrine of estoppel by judgment to obtain summary judgment in his individual state court action.
A non-party plaintiff cannot affirmatively invoke the doctrine of estoppel by judgment. The trial court properly refused to grant summary judgment based on the employer's separate Louisiana judgment. The trial court also properly exercised its discretion in excluding the Louisiana judgment from evidence.
[1] A nonparty to an action in another state cannot affirmatively use the doctrine of estoppel by judgment.
[2] Estoppel by judgment requires the same parties in both actions for the doctrine to apply.
Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“estoppel by judgment comes into play when the parties are the same in both actions, but the causes of action are different, and the points and questions raised in the second suit were actually presented and adjudicated in the former suit”
Establishes the traditional requirement that parties must be identical for estoppel by judgment to apply
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceA motor vehicle collision involving multiple vehicles and parties occurred in Louisiana. Daigneau was the driver of a truck owned by Lou E. Gilbert d/…
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The appellant, plaintiff below, appeals from a judgment entered against him following a jury trial.
This action arose out of a motor vehicle collision which occurred in Louisiana in*466volving several vehicles and parties. The appellant was the driver of a truck owned by Lou E. Gilbert d/b/a Gilbert Express Lines.
The chief argument to this court is the claim that Mr. Daigneau should have been granted a Summary Judgment by the trial court inasmuch as his employer, Lou E. Gilbert, had been successful in obtaining a judgment against the same defendant in the Federal Court in the State of Louisiana. The record discloses that just a few days prior to the trial of this action, the District Judge of the Eastern District of Louisiana, New Orleans, in a consolidated action of three lawsuits did, in fact, enter judgment for Lou E. Gilbert and his insurance carrier and against the defendant, National Cash Register Company. Although the plaintiff in this action, Mr. Daigneau, was a witness in the Louisiana proceedings, he was not a party to any of those actions, choosing instead to file his individual action in the State of Florida.
The question presented to this court is whether or not a nonparty to an action tried in another state is entitled to affirmatively use the doctrine of estoppel by judgment. This court has recently held that a nonparty plaintiff cannot have the doctrine used against him (Hill v. Colonial Enterprises, Inc., Fla.App.1969, 219 So.2d 51). The doctrine of estoppel by judgment was authorized for a plaintiff in the case of Shearn v. Orlando Funeral Home, Fla. 1956, 88 So.2d 591. In that opinion, the Court stated “ ‘estoppel by judgment’ comes into play when the parties are the same in both actions, but the causes of action are different, and the points and questions raised in the second suit were actually presented and adjudicated in the former suit.”
Our examination of Louisiana law leads us to the conclusion that if the plaintiff was proceeding anew in Louisiana, he would not have had the benefit of the doctrine of estoppel by judgment (31 A.L.R.3d 1063; Shell Oil Company v. Texas Gas Transmission Corp., La.App.1964, 176 So.2d 692; La.App.1968, 210 So.2d 554; 1968, 252 La. 847, 214 So.2d 165; and Cauefield v. Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York, 5 Cir. 1967, 378 F.2d 876, cert. den. 389 U.S. 1009, 88 S.Ct. 571, 19 L.Ed.2d 606. An interesting dialogue could ensue as to whether or not the utilization of the doctrine of estoppel by judgment is procedural or substantive. In this instance, the plaintiff is claiming a violation of a substantive right. If this is true, then the Louisiana authorities would be binding.
The appellant is asking the court to adopt the New York view, which is that all that is necessary to invoke the estoppel doctrine is the identity of issues and a fair opportunity to contest those issues (B. R. DeWitt, Inc. v. Hall, 1967, 19 N.Y.2d 141, 278 N.Y.S.2d 596, 225 N.E.2d 195; Schwartz v. Public Administrator of Co. of Bronx, 1969, 24 N.Y.2d 65, 298 N.Y.S. 2d 955, 246 N.E.2d 725). Although this definition has some attraction, it should not be utilized in this case.
The trial court was correct in declining to enter a Summary Judgment on the basis of the judgment entered by the plaintiff’s employer in Louisiana.
The appellant also complains of the withdrawal of the Louisiana judgment from evidence by the trial judge after counsel for the defendant had stipulated it into evidence. The trial judge found, in effect, that the stipulation was not for evi-dentiary purposes, but to allow the plaintiff to protect the record. It was plainly within his discretion to remove the judgment from evidence and his duty to disallow its presentation to the jury.
The Judgment is affirmed.
CROSS, C. J., and REED, J., concur.
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Romano v. Trucking Emps. OF N. Jersey Welf. Fund, Inc., 427 So. 2d 802 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983)…r estoppel by judgment. Mobil Oil Corp. v. Shevin, 354 So. 2d 372 (Fla.1978); Universal Const. Co. v. City of Fort Lauderdale, 68 So. 2d 366 (Fla.1953); Pickett v. Woods, 360 So. 2d 45 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978); Daigneau v. National Cash Register Company, 247 So. 2d 465 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971). And on more than one occasion Florida courts have refused to follow the suggestion that mutuality be dropped as a requirement for collateral es-toppel. One is the Daigneau case, supra. The First District Court of Appeal has most…
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Newport Division v. Allie Mae Thompson and Buford Pogue, 330 So. 2d 826 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976)…he question of its responsibility for the collision in which William Shearn was killed and his wife injured. The District Court of Appeal, Fourth District, explicitly declined to abrogate the mutuality rule in Daigneau v. National Cash Register Co., 247 So. 2d 465 (Fla.App.4th, 1971). We also decline to abandon the doctrine. While we may doubt that mutuality serves commonly accepted policies undergirding the doctrine of judicial finality, see Babler, supra, 474 P. 2d at 332, and we are sorely tempted to gras…
Authorities Cited
- Shearn v. Orlando Funeral Home, Inc., 88 So. 2d 591 (Fla. 1956)
- Sargent Cauefield and Jim Lucas v. The Fid. & Cas. Co. OF NEW York, 378 F.2d 876 (1st Cir. 1967)
- Hill v. Colonial Enters., Inc., 219 So. 2d 51 (Fla. 4th DCA 1969)
- Matlack v. New Jersey, 389 U.S. 1009 (U.S. 1967)
- Baskin v. Baskin, 389 U.S. 1009 (U.S. 1967)