Opinion ID: 1630596
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Whether the Doctrine of Res Judicata Bars This Action

Text: The taxpayers contend that Act No. 99-669 was validly enacted and that it repealed Act No. 406 (1967). The County asserts the defense of res judicata, pointing to the failure of a class composed of Jefferson County taxpayers in Richards to assert that Act No. 99-669 repealed Act No. 406 (1967), thus, the County says, barring the taxpayers here from making such an argument. We note that before the trial court the County relied on the decision in the JCEA action to support its defense of res judicata, and the trial court rejected the defense based on an analysis of the JCEA action. On appeal, as previously noted, the County relies on Richards as the basis for asserting the defense of res judicata. The County makes no argument on appeal as to the effect of the JCEA action as a basis for invoking the bar of res judicata. Failure to argue error as to an issue results in waiver. See Pardue v. Potter, 632 So.2d 470, 473 (Ala. 1994). The parties dispute whether, in the trial court, the County timely raised its defense of res judicata based on Richards. However, even assuming that the County's argument of the res judicata issue based on Richards was timely, we affirm as to this issue. There are four elements of res judicata: (1) a prior judgment on the merits, (2) rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction, (3) with substantial identity of the parties, and (4) with the same cause of action presented in both actions. If those four elements are present, then any claim that was, or that could have been, adjudicated in the prior action is barred from further litigation. Equity Res. Mgmt., Inc. v. Vinson, 723 So.2d 634, 636 (Ala.1998). The issue of identity of causes of action, the fourth element of res judicata, turns on whether the same evidence substantially supports both actions, Hughes v. Martin, 533 So.2d 188, 191 (Ala.1988) (citing Geer Bros., Inc. v. Crump, 349 So.2d 577 (Ala.1977)), or, put another way, whether the same evidence is applicable to both actions. Gulf American Fire & Cas. Co. v. Johnson, 282 Ala. 73, 209 So.2d 212 (1968). See also Greene v. Jefferson County Comm'n, 13 So.3d 901, 913 (Ala.2008) (finding identity of causes of action where the claims in the two cases arise out of the same nucleus of operative facts and where the parties in the subsequent action rely on the same evidence and advance many of the same arguments asserted by the plaintiffs in the former litigation). The taxpayers in Richards contended that Act No. 99-669 violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution because of an alleged disparity in the treatment of similarly situated taxpayers. In this action, as previously noted, the taxpayers contend that Act No. 99-669 was validly enacted and that it repealed Act No. 406 (1967). The facts underlying this claim dealing with the validity of Act No. 99-669 are wholly unrelated to the facts set forth in the complaint in Richards. We cannot, therefore, conclude that Richards and this action share the same nucleus of facts and turn on sufficiently similar evidence to warrant the application of the defense of res judicata. See Greene, supra.