Opinion ID: 1811445
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: order and judgment [of the trial court]

Text: This cause comes before the Court on the Motion for Summary Judgment by Scott Paper Company (hereinafter `Scott'). The basis of Scott's motion is that the claims made by Plaintiff in this suit are barred by the doctrine of res judicata due to the June 11, 1990 judgment of this Court in an earlier lawsuit between Plaintiff and Scott. Scott's position is that the earlier judgment for Plaintiff in a lawsuit for workman's compensation benefits bars Plaintiff's claims in this second lawsuit in which Plaintiff seeks damages from Scott based on alleged wrongful conduct in the denial of those benefits or an alternative accident and sickness benefit for non-job-related injuries for the same incident. The thrust of Plaintiff's position is that the motion should fail because there is ample evidence of fraudulent/outrageous mishandling of Plaintiff's claims for these benefits and the claim in the first lawsuit is not the same `cause of action' as the claims in this lawsuit. In ruling on a Motion for Summary Judgment based on res judicata the Court does not weigh the evidence alleged to support the claims made in the second lawsuit, but considers whether the claims made in both lawsuits arise out of the same nucleus of operative facts. If the claims in both lawsuits arise out of the same `nucleus of operative fact' then res judicata applies not only to the precise legal theory or claim presented in the prior case but to all legal theories and claims brought in the second lawsuit between the same parties which could have been brought in the first lawsuit. With this in mind the Court upon consideration of the arguments, extensive briefs and matters of record finds and determines as follows: