Opinion ID: 282320
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: refusal to admit affidavits filed in other litigation

Text: 33 After the plaintiffs sold their stock in Gear, Gear sued Brown Trailer Division of Clark Equipment Company from whom Gear had purchased the trailers leased to defendants. In this suit filed in Alabama State Court, the claim was made that, because the trailers were defective and were delivered late, Gear suffered substantial losses. 34 The defendants sought to introduce the affidavits filed by Lowery in that suit. They urge that the trial court erred in refusing to admit the affidavits and in refusing to hold that the plaintiffs were judicially estopped to assert that the defendants' representations caused their loss. 35 Where a party has taken a position under oath in one judicial proceeding, he is estopped to make a contrary assertion in a later proceeding. 23 This rule, known as judicial estoppel, is founded on the same ethical precept as estoppel in pais: a party who has induced someone else to act in a particular manner should not be permitted later to cause loss to the person he has misled by adopting an inconsistent position. Judicial estoppel, like all estoppel, is equitable in nature, and is designed to protect those who are misled by a change in position. 24 Hence, judicial estoppel may be invoked only by a party to the prior litigation or someone privy to a party. 36 Recovery by Gear in its suit against Clark would have benefited the plaintiffs in that it would have reduced their liability as endorsers of Gear's note. But when the suit was filed, they were no longer shareholders in Gear and had no control over its affairs. Even had they then been stockholders, the weight of authority is that a judicial declaration by a corporation does not estop its shareholders. 25 37 However, although the allegations in the suit created no estoppel, the affidavits should have been admitted for the jury's consideration on the basis that they did reflect possible prior inconsistent statements by Lowery, who was one of the witnesses 26 at the trial. While the refusal to admit them was erroneous, we find no prejudice as a result of their exclusion. Lowery was fully questioned about the litigation and about the position taken in it. He did not deny the statements attributed to him. Under the circumstances, the exclusion of the affidavits themselves was not reversible error. 27