Opinion ID: 1983446
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Res Judicata Effect of the Prior Commission Finding

Text: The Superior Court first erred in relying on the finding by the Workers' Compensation Commission that McClintick's injury did not arise out of and in the course of her employment. It is a violation of due process for a judgment to be binding on a litigant who was not a party or a privy and therefore has never had an opportunity to be heard. Parklane Hosiery Co., Inc. v. Shore, 439 U.S. 322, 327 n. 7, 99 S.Ct. 645, 649-50 n. 7, 58 L.Ed.2d 552 (1979), citing Blonder-Tongue Laboratories, Inc. v. University of Illinois Foundation, 402 U.S. 313, 329, 91 S.Ct. 1434, 1443, 28 L.Ed.2d 788 (1971). NSIC was not a party to the Commission proceeding. Neither was NSIC in privity with the Dolleys: privity requires a commonality of interest in proving or disproving the same fact or legal issue. Department of Human Services v. Richardson, 621 A.2d 855, 856 (Me.1993). The interests of the Dolleys and of NSIC were not aligned during the Commission hearing, nor are they now. As a secondary insurer of the Dolleys, it will always be in NSIC's interest to secure a finding that the injury is covered by workers' compensation, because such a finding would relieve it from any duty to indemnify. The Dolleys took the position before the Commission that the injury was not covered by workers' compensation, a position directly contrary to the interests of NSIC. The Commission's order does not bind NSIC.