Opinion ID: 312922
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The fraud claim is barred by the election of remedies doctrine.

Text: 17 Northern next asserts that under the election of remedies doctrine any claim by Sade against Northern based on fraud is barred by the fact that he had previously instituted, and pursued on through to conclusion, an action in negligence against Northern's employees in the Kansas courts. In this regard, it is Northern's contention that in the Kansas proceeding Sade disaffirmed the settlement agreement, and in the present action he affirms the settlement agreement and seeks damages resulting from Northern's alleged fraud. This, Sade cannot do, avers Northern, under the election of remedies doctrine. 18 In thus arguing, counsel relies on such cases as Oklahoma Co. v. O'Neil, 440 P.2d 978 (Okl.1968); Dudley v. King, 285 P.2d 425 (Okl.1955), and Freeland v. Dolen, 84 Okl. 286, 203 P. 182 (1922). Those cases stand for the proposition that three requirements must be met before the doctrine of election of remedies can be invoked: (1) The existence of two or more remedies; (2) an inconsistency between the remedies; (3) the choice, with knowledge of the facts, of one of the several available remedies; and that if any one of these elements be missing, then the result of preclusion does not follow. We have no quarrel with this general statement of the law, but we deem it inapplicable to the present factual situation. 19 In the first place, we disagree with Northern's initial premise that in instituting the Kansas action, Sade disaffirmed the compromise settlement. Rather, as we see it, in instituting the Kansas proceeding it was Sade's position that the compromise agreement was valid and binding, but that it did not cover Northern's employees, but only Northern itself. In this regard, as earlier noted, the release made no mention of Northern's employees, and, according to Sade, Northern's attorneys repeatedly assured him that the release did not preclude him from suing Northern's employees. Hence, we fail to see just how Sade was disaffirming the release when he sued Northern's employees. 20 Additionally, one of the essential elements under the authorities above cited is that there be a knowledgeable choice of one remedy to the exclusion of other available and inconsistent remedies. In our view, there was no such knowledgeable choice by Sade in the instant case. On the contrary, the knowledge of a remedy by means of an action in fraud against Northern didn't become known to Sade, with any certainty, till the Kansas courts held that the release covered Northern's employees, as well as Northern. Prior thereto, Sade was at all times of the view that the release preserved his right to sue Northern's employees. Under such circumstances, there surely could not be a knowledgeable choice by Sade of one of several inconsistent remedies. Without further belaboring the point, the present action is not barred by the election of remedies doctrine. 21