Opinion ID: 771983
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Jury Verdict and Dismissal of the Fourth-Party Action

Text: 25 A jury trial in the 1987 Action took place from July 13, 1992 to August 12, 1992. The jury awarded Indu Craft $3.25 million and decided against Baroda on its counterclaim for $1.7 million. The magistrate judge then vacated the jury's verdict in favor of Indu Craft and denied Baroda's motion for judgment as a matter of law on its counterclaim in an order dated December 17, 1993. We reinstated that verdict on February 3, 1995, with instructions to offset the award by the amount of the counterclaim. See Indu Craft, 47 F.3d at 498. A final amended judgment in the amount of $2,519,822.29 was entered in favor of Indu Craft on October 19, 1995. We affirmed. See Indu Craft, 87 F.3d at 614. 26 On December 2, 1997, pursuant to Indu Craft's letter request, Judge Martin lifted the stay that he had previously ordered on October 5, 1990. Thereafter, Baroda moved for summary judgment on January 21, 1998, arguing that the judgment in the 1987 Action was res judicata as to Indu Craft's fourth-party complaint filed in the BOI Action. In an opinion and order entered September 14, 1998, Judge Martin granted Baroda's motion because Indu Craft's alleged indemnity claims could have and should have been litigated in the 1987 Action because the claims arose from the same transaction - [Baroda's] wrongful reduction or cancellation of Indu Craft's credit line. Bank of India, 1998 WL 614189, at . In addition, Judge Martin rejected Indu Craft's argument that its indemnification claims were different from its claims in the 1987 Action because the indemnification claims could not have been alleged in the first action until resolution of the third-party action between Indu Craft and Trendi. He reasoned that Indu Craft could have obtained a conditional judgment against Baroda on its indemnification claims. See id. Judge Martin also thought that Indu Craft's fourth-party claims were properly viewed as additional elements of contract damages (i.e., Trendi damages) rather than as a separate claim for indemnification. See id. at . Accordingly, Indu Craft's failure to assert Trendi damages as part of its contract damages in the 1987 Action precluded Indu Craft from recovering those damages in the fourth-party action. See id. 27 Furthermore, Judge Martin rejected Indu Craft's assertion that Baroda must be estopped from asserting res judicata because: (1) although Baroda opposed Indu Craft's motion to sever and consolidate the fourth-party claims with the 1987 Action, Baroda also asserted that the fourth-party action should be dismissed because it was properly part of the 1987 Action, see id. at ; and (2) although Baroda successfully precluded Indu Craft from presenting evidence of Trendi damages in the 1987 Action, Indu Craft never argued that the purpose of introducing that evidence was to show that Baroda was liable to Indu Craft for the amount of damages that Indu Craft was obligated to pay Trendi, and therefore Baroda had no opportunity to oppose the argument, see id.