Title: Froelich v. Werbin
Citation: 212 Kan. 119, 509 P.2d 1118
Docket Number: 46,757
State: Kansas
Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court
Date: May 12, 1973

212 Kan. 119 (1973)
509 P.2d 1118
WILLIAM FROELICH, Appellant,
v.
SYD WERBIN, Appellee.
No. 46,757

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed May 12, 1973.
Jim Lawing, of Jim Lawing, Chartered, of Wichita, argued the cause and was on the brief for the appellant.
Robert W. Kaplan, of Kaplan, McMillan &amp; Anderson, of Wichita, argued the cause and was on the brief for the appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
KAUL, J.:
This is an appeal from the trial court's order dismissing an action to recover damages for an alleged invasion of plaintiff's privacy by defendant.
The record on appeal consists only of plaintiff's abbreviated petition, the defendant's motion to dismiss and the journal entry of the trial court's ruling, which does not set forth the legal principles controlling the decision as required by Supreme Court Rule No. 116 (209 Kan. xxxviii)  an omission which complicates our consideration on appellate review.
The nub of plaintiff's claim is set out in paragraphs two and three of his petition which read as follows:
Plaintiff further alleged that the actions of defendant were malicious and that plaintiff was entitled to recover punitive as well as general damages. Plaintiff prayed for damages, both general and punitive, and for return of the hair samples plus any laboratory report concerning them.
Defendant responded to plaintiff's petition by filing a motion *120 to dismiss under K.S.A. 1972 Supp. 60-212 (b). The motion was based on two grounds, failure to join a necessary party and res judicata. When presented to the administrative judge of the district court of Sedgwick County, the court announced the motion would be taken under advisement until determination of a companion case then pending in another division of the district court. The companion case referred to is entitled William Froelich, Plaintiff, v. Burneta Adair, Defendant. The trial was to the court and terminated in a judgment in favor of the defendant (Adair). That judgment has been appealed to this court. Thereafter, in the insant case, defendant (Werbin) refiled his motion to dismiss which reads:
As previously indicated, the trial court sustained defendant's motion without specifying the ground on which it based its ruling. On appeal plaintiff takes the position that neither of the grounds asserted in defendant's motion warranted dismissal of his action. On the record before us we are compelled to agree with the position taken by plaintiff.
Plaintiff argues that defendant and Adair were involved in a series of events that led to the alleged invasion of privacy; that they were jointly and severally liable to plaintiff and may be joined in one action or sued separately at his option under K.S.A. 1972 Supp. 60-220. In his brief plaintiff says:
Defendant, on the other hand, asserts that this is not a case of permissive joinder, but that Mrs. Adair is a "contingently necessary" party under the provisions of K.S.A. 1972 Supp. 60-219 (a), and, thus, since no reason was alleged for nonjoinder as required by 60-219 (c), plaintiff's action is subject to dismissal on motion pursuant to K.S.A. 1972 Supp. 60-212 (b) (7).
K.S.A. 1972 Supp. 60-219 provides for the joinder of persons needed for the just adjudication of an action. Subsection (a) provides that whenever a "contingently necessary" person is subject to service of process he shall be joined as a party in the action. The characteristics of a contingently necessary party are set forth as follows:
Subsection (b) sets out guidelines for the procedure to be followed and the determination to be made by the court when a contingently necessary person cannot be made a party.
K.S.A. 1972 Supp. 60-219, as it now appears, follows closely the 1966 revision of Federal Rule 19 (7 Wright &amp; Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil, Joinder of Persons; and 28 U.S.C.A., Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 19 [a], [b].) In 2 Vernon's Kansas Statutes Annotated, Code of Civil Procedure, [§ 60-219, 1973 Pocket Parts by FOWKS], the author observes:
Although mentioned in a discussion of the revision of our joinder statutes in McGregor v. Turner, 205 Kan. 386, 469 P.2d 324, the revised version of 60-219 has not been considered by this court with respect to the question posed in the instant case. After examining federal cases and commentaries dealing with the rule, we have concluded that Mrs. Adair (defendant in the companion case) does not fall into the posture of a "contingently necessary" party *122 within either of the categories spelled out in our 60-219 (a), which are the same as the joinder standards recited in Federal Rule 19 (a), (1) and (2).
Restricting our consideration to the record in the instant case, Mrs. Adair's relationship to defendant could be only that of a joint tort-feasor. According to defendant's theory, because of plaintiff's allegation of agency in the companion case, Mrs. Adair is a principal in an agency relationship. Insofar as the case at bar is concerned she is not a "contingently necessary" party under either theory.
If, as defendant says, there is agency, joinder is permissive (K.S.A. 1972 Supp. 60-220) not mandatory under 60-219. The rule is stated in 53 Am.Jur.2d, Master and Servant, § 453:
If, as plaintiff says, defendant and Mrs. Adair were joint tort-feasors; then, likewise, the joinder of Mrs. Adair was not compulsory under 60-219, but permissive under 60-220. In 7 Wright &amp; Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil, § 1623, we find this comment:
See, also, Humble Oil &amp; Refining Company v. Harang, 262 F. Supp. 39 (1966).
In the framework of the limited record presented herein, we are compelled to hold that joinder of Mrs. Adair as a contingently necessary party is not mandated by the provisions of 60-219 and, thus, failure to join her cannot serve as a basis for dismissal of the action under 60-212.
In support of his argument on res judicata and/or collateral estoppel defendant has appended to his brief copies of plaintiff's petition and the findings of the trial court in the companion suit against Mrs. Adair. Defendant points out that plaintiff in his petition against Mrs. Adair alleges that Werbin was an agent of Mrs. Adair. Since the trial court found for Mrs. Adair in that case, defendant *123 argues here that judgment in favor of Mrs. Adair, as principal, operates as a release of defendant as agent and, thus, forecloses plaintiff's action in the instant case. (Citing Sade v. Hemstrom, 205 Kan. 514, 471 P.2d 340; and Jacobson v. Parrill, 186 Kan. 467, 351 P.2d 194.) There are several reasons why defendant's position cannot be maintained. In the first place, the trial court made no finding concerning agency in the Adair case. In fact, the court made no mention of defendant Werbin whatsoever, the judgment being based solely on the premise that the evidence of Mrs. Adair's conduct was insufficient to establish a case of invasion of privacy. The court stated that the conduct of Mrs. Adair was either excusable under the circumstances, or is to be considered as an exception to the privilege of privacy. The court further concluded:
The question of derivative liability on the part of Mrs. Adair for defendant's conduct was not mentioned  whether it was litigated we are unable to ascertain.
Neither Jacobson nor Sade support defendant's position. In Jacobson the plaintiff's acceptance of full satisfaction of a judgment against the active tort-feasor's (driver-agent's) estate was held to foreclose any right of action for derivative liability against the deceased's principal (also owner of the automobile), based on the same negligence of the agent-driver as was alleged in plaintiff's petition in the previous case against the estate of the deceased agent-driver. Sade dealt with the release of a master for derivative liability stemming from the tortious act of his servant. We held that where the liability of both master and servant arises from the tortious act of the servant, a valid release of the master operates to release the servant. No release has been given in the instant case, nor has the alleged tortious act of defendant been adjudicated. Neither Sade nor Jacobson is analogous to the instant case in the posture in which it appears before us.
Defendant was not a party to the Adair case, neither was the existence of any privity between defendant and Mrs. Adair established. Defendant would not have been bound had the judgment in Adair gone the other way. In the posture of the instant case there is no basis for defendant's assertion of collateral estoppel or res judicata.
Defendant also complains because plaintiff refused to consolidate the two cases at the trial court level. There is nothing shown in the *124 record concerning this matter; thus, it cannot be considered on appellate review.
On the record presented we are unable to uphold dismissal of the action on any of the grounds advanced by defendant; hence, the trial court's order must be set aside and the cause remanded.
It is so ordered.