Opinion ID: 1167656
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Does this Court have Jurisdiction?

Text: As a threshold matter, we must decide whether this court has jurisdiction to decide this case. As noted above, after the second and third claims were dismissed with prejudice, the plaintiff requested and received a voluntary dismissal without prejudice of the first cause of action pursuant to ORCP 54 A. The judgment stated in pertinent part: IT IS HEREBY directed that Judgment is entered in favor of Defendants based on this Court's Order dismissing Plaintiff's first claim without prejudice and dismissing Plaintiff's second and third claims with prejudice   . Generally, a party may not appeal from a judgment which he or she voluntarily requested unless some previous ruling by the trial court effectively precluded recovery and the plaintiff cannot plead the facts more favorably. See Farris v. U.S. Fidelity & Guaranty, 273 Or. 628, 633, 542 P.2d 1031 (1975); Steenson v. Robinson, 236 Or. 414, 416-17, 385 P.2d 738 (1964). Because the trial court's dismissal of the second and third claims did not bar recovery for breach of contract under the first claim, this rule would preclude the plaintiff's appeal from the judgment entered at his request. However, this court's ruling in Taylor v. Baker, 279 Or. 139, 566 P.2d 884 (1977), salvages this appeal. In Taylor the plaintiff sued two defendants for an injury that she sustained on the defendants' property. The complaint contained two alternative claims for relief. After the trial court granted summary judgment on the first claim, the plaintiff sought and received a voluntary dismissal of the action. 279 Or. at 141-42, 566 P.2d 884. Citing Steenson v. Robinson, supra , the court acknowledged the general rule that a party may not appeal from a judgment which he or she voluntarily requested. 279 Or. at 142, 566 P.2d 884. The Taylor court concluded, however, that an appeal from a voluntary dismissal following a partial summary judgment was permissible under the facts in Taylor. 279 Or. at 143, 566 P.2d 884. It reasoned that the rule against appeals from voluntary dismissals is designed largely to prohibit piecemeal appeals and to preclude plaintiffs from seeking appellate review of one portion of their claim while holding other theories in abeyance, to be refiled in the event of an adverse appellate ruling. 279 Or. at 143, 566 P.2d 884. The doctrine of res judicata, however, would prevent the plaintiff in Taylor from employing such a strategy. The court noted that res judicata not only bars relitigation of any claim necessarily determined in a prior judgment, but it also precludes any claim that could have been alleged under the same `aggregate of operative facts which compose a single occasion for judicial relief.' 279 Or. at 144, 566 P.2d 884 (quoting Del Monte Meat Co., Inc. v. Hurt, 277 Or. 615, 617, 561 P.2d 627 (1977)). It therefore concluded that a plaintiff's willingness to forego litigation on alternative theories should be sufficient to guarantee that the partial summary judgment had the effect of rendering [a] plaintiff's nonsuit truly involuntary. 279 Or. at 144, 566 P.2d 884. The same reasoning applies here. The plaintiff's contract claim embodied in his first claim for relief arose from the same aggregate of operative facts as the claims alleged in the second claim for relief which is the subject of this appeal. The doctrine of res judicata would preclude this plaintiff from relitigating the first claim in the event of an adverse ruling on the second claim in this appeal. Therefore, under the reasoning in Taylor this court has jurisdiction. We turn then to a discussion of the merits of the appeal.