Opinion ID: 1658150
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Mitchell Motors Appeal.

Text: The motion for new trial granted to the plaintiff against Mitchell Motors and Ford Motor Company was expressly based upon Ground 30 in the plaintiff's motion for new trial. The order of the trial court clearly demonstrates this: This cause coming on to be heard on the plaintiff's motion to reconsider the Court's ruling on his motion for a new trial rendered on October 28, 1976, the Court is of the opinion the Order overruling plaintiff's motion for a new trial should be and is hereby modified to the extent that the plaintiff's motion for a new trial against the defendants, Ford Motor Company, a corporation and Mitchell Motors, Inc., should be and is hereby granted, solely on the basis of Ground 30 of the motion for new trial and in response to the Supreme Court's decision in [ Jett v. Honda Motor Co., Ltd., 339 So.2d 66 (Ala.1976)]. The Court is further of the opinion that the motion for a new trial should be denied on all other grounds . . . Ground 30 of plaintiff's motion for new trial follows: 30. For that the Court erred in disallowing the plaintiff's amendment charging the defendant, Ford Motor Company, with liability under the doctrine of strict liability in tort. At no point in the pleadings, the pretrial order or elsewhere in the record has the plaintiff attempted to assert a claim for relief against Mitchell Motors based upon a theory of strict liability in tort or the Alabama Extended Manufacturer's Liability Doctrine which, of course, was not stated until after this case was tried. Atkins v. American Motors Corp., supra; Casrell v. Altec Industries, Inc., supra. Although Jett v. Honda , supra, reversed the trial court in granting defendants' motion to dismiss and remanded the cause for reconsideration in light of Casrell and Atkins, supra, Jett v. Honda (like Casrell and Atkins ) had not been tried at the time appellate review was sought. Additionally and significantly, the complaint which was dismissed sought relief on the basis of strict liability in tort. This case has been tried to a jury. Every theory of liability advanced by the plaintiff against Mitchell has been tried. A jury has rendered a verdict in Mitchell's favor and judgment has been entered thereon. Although the Casrell and Atkins decisions do have some retroactive effect, such retroactivity cannot extend to controversies between parties which have been adjudicated. The principle of res judicata is predicted upon the doctrine that litigation must come to an end. Any issue which has been adjudicated, or which could have been adjudicated, is by that doctrine barred from further litigation. Heiser v. Woodruff, 327 U.S. 726, 66 S.Ct. 853, 90 L.Ed. 970 (1946). That principle, so fundamental to our jurisprudence, would be violated if the law as it evolves to meet new conditions of society, were made retroactive to re-open, for another trial, matters laid to rest under theories of liability existing at the time they were tried. See Restatement Judgments, § 65(1). Trimble argues that his proffered amendment (count three) can be construed to state a claim based upon strict liability in tort against Mitchell Motors. We cannot so read it. It expressly states such a claim against Ford Motor Company. The only construction by which Mitchell Motors can be made a party in that count is to treat it as a party because at one or more points the count refers to defendants plurally. The reference to plural defendants in that count is clearly a typographical or grammatical error. Clerical errors may be self-correcting by the context of the pleading. Hudson v. Coffee County, 291 Ala. 596, 285 So.2d 101 (1973). A reading of the entire count clearly shows the assertion of a strict liability claim against Fort Motor Company only. We are not inclined to revert to a requirement of technical accuracy in pleadings, nor are we inclined to resort to strained interpretation of pleadings. Given a fair reading, count three states a claim based upon strict liability in tort against Ford Motor Company, and no other defendant. We also note that Ground 30 of the motion for new trial, asserting error in striking the amendment, is also limited to Ford. Because the trial court determined that it had erred in disallowing the plaintiff's amendment stating a claim based upon strict liability in tort, it granted his motion for new trial. Since, however, that amendment does not assert that claim against Mitchell Motors, the court erred in granting the plaintiff's motion for new trial as to it. To that extent, the judgment of the trial court is reversed. In all other respects, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed. The judgment denying Trimble's motion for new trial as to Bramco is affirmed. The judgment granting his motion for new trial as to Ford is affirmed. The judgment granting a new trial as to Mitchell is reversed. AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART; AND REMANDED. TORBERT, C. J., and MADDOX, FAULKNER and JONES, JJ., concur.