Opinion ID: 2405691
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Finality of the order

Text: Although no issue as to the finality of the order has been raised by the parties, our recent decision in Haile v. Arkansas Power & Light Co., 322 Ark. 29, 907 S.W.2d 122 (1995), raises a question whether the summary judgment is a final, appealable order. In the Haile case, as we had done in Ratzlaff v. Franz Foods of Ark., 255 Ark. 373, 500 S.W.2d 379 (1973), we held that a party who has several claims against another may not take a voluntary nonsuit of one claim and appeal an adverse judgment as to the other claims when it is clear that the intent is to refile the nonsuited claim and thus give rise to the possibility of piecemeal appeals. This case is different in that the nonsuit is not with respect to one of several claims against a party; it is a nonsuit with respect to one of several parties. Arkansas R.Civ.P. 54(b) makes it clear that when there are multiple parties the disposition of the case as to fewer than all does not amount to a final, appealable order absent a certification of the Trial Court that there is no need to delay the entry of a final judgment. Of course, as a technical or formal proposition, Mr. Driggers's has no remaining claim before the Trial Court in view of the nonsuit and the summary judgment, so Rule 54(b) is not applicable. That does not, however, answer the question whether the rationale of the Haile and Ratzlaff cases should apply. We have found very little authority on the matter of the finality of a judgment when there has been a nonsuit without prejudice against one of multiple parties to litigation arising out of a single incident. We do know that we have not dismissed other appeals which have come to us in this posture. See, e.g., the recent case of Bryant v. Putnam, 322 Ark. 284, 908 S.W.2d 338 (1995). Focusing on the issue more intensely than we did in the Bryant case, we see at least one distinct flaw in the proposition that the rationale causing dismissal in cases of voluntary nonsuit of one of multiple claims against a single party should apply when the nonsuit is with respect to one of multiple parties. Nothing requires a plaintiff to sue the prospective defendants simultaneously. If, however, a plaintiff has a number of claims against a single party, the doctrine of res judicata will bar issues which could have been litigated between them but were not. In Matter of Estate of Goston v. Ford Motor Co., 320 Ark. 699, 898 S.W.2d 471 (1995); Standridge v. Standridge, 304 Ark. 364, 803 S.W.2d 496 (1991). If Mr. Driggers had sued the Lockes and not joined Buddy Neal, the summary judgment in favor of the Lockes would have unquestionably been a final, appealable order, and he could have sued Buddy Neal later. The fact that he began an action against Buddy Neal and then took a nonsuit leaves the parties in the same positions as they would have occupied had the claim against Buddy Neal merely been delayed rather than nonsuited. The one case we have found which airs a similar issue based on similar facts is Fassett v. Delta Kappa Epsilon (New York), 807 F.2d 1150 (3d Cir.1986). The opinion suggests the appeal would not have been considered final but for the fact that the statute of limitations had run on the claim against the party nonsuited, thus the litigation was effectively over. This litigation may also be over with respect to the claim against Buddy Neal in view of the apparent inability of Mr. Driggers to serve Mr. Neal and in view of the Lockes' answer stating, upon information and knowledge that Buddy Neal is deceased and therefore is no longer a resident of Clark County, Arkansas. Regardless of this additional practical possibility, we hold the rationale of the Haile case does not apply when the nonsuit is as to a party and not an issue in the case. We thus proceed to the merits of the summary judgment in favor of the Lockes.