Opinion ID: 1143673
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Relatively Small Dollar Amount at Stake in BW.

Text: Another factor courts will consider in determining the appropriateness of preclusion is whether the dollar amount at stake in the first action was so small that the party to be precluded may not have had incentive to litigate the issue in the prior action fully and it would be unfair to bind the party to that adjudication in a case in which a substantially greater dollar amount is involved. Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 28(5)(c) (1981). We found this factor to be of particular importance in Pennington v. Snow, 471 P.2d 370, 378 (Alaska 1970). This is indeed the Murrays' strongest argument; the BW action involved only $3,000, [5] while the verdict here was approximately $1.3 million. The difference in relative dollar amounts at stake is substantial. On the other hand, the justification underlying this consideration is that the party to be precluded may not have had incentive to litigate the issue to the fullest in the prior action. Id. at 378. There is every indication that the Murrays went all out in their battle against BW. The only thing the Murrays assert they would have done differently if more were at stake would have been to pursue the appeal. But at the time they dismissed their appeal the Feight action had been filed and the Murrays themselves had already raised the consent issue. This would seem more than adequate incentive to pursue the appeal. Each of these factors thus weighs in favor of preclusion in this case and we affirm the grant of partial summary judgment.