Court Opinion

ID: 9524763
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:56:56.012715+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:11:51.167692
License: Public Domain

PEDERSON, Justice,
dissenting in part.
The judgment should be affirmed in full.
Medearis has attempted to split a cause of action.
*205“A single cause of action cannot be split either as to relief demanded or grounds on which recovery is sought and two or more actions brought thereon, and to do so makes pleas in abatement or of res judicata available respectively .against all actions other than the one first commenced or on which judgment is first rendered.” 1 C.J.S. Actions § 102(b), Rule Against Splitting.
See also, 1 Am.Jur.2d, Actions, §§ 127-155, Splitting Causes of Action.
“This court has repeatedly held that a cause of action cannot be divided; that when there is a single cause of action, although there may be different kinds of damages, only one suit can be brought.” Farmers Ins. Exchange v. Arlt, 61 N.W.2d 429, 434 (N.D.1953).
“... when the defendant is responsible for the split, he is estopped himself . .. ‘The rule against splitting a cause of action into several parts and bringing an action upon each is primarily for the benefit of the defendant in the action, which he may waive, or preclude himself from invoking by his fraud.’ ” Hyyti v. Smith, 67 N.D. 425, 272 N.W. 747, 749-750 (1937).
It has not been contended in this case that any of the defendants waived benefits under the rule or was in any way responsible for the split. It is interesting to note that the split in Hyyti, supra, involved a punitive damage claim as in the instant case.
The defendants in this case, who were not parties to the initial suit, certainly cannot have caused the splitting of the cause of action and they are not barred by the lack of mutuality from claiming the defense of estoppel by judgment. See Annotation: Mutuality of Estoppel as Prerequisite of Availability of Doctrine of Collateral Estop-pel to a Stranger to the Judgment, 31 A.L. R.3d 1044. See also, Vestal: Preclusion/Res Judicata Variables, 50 Iowa L.Rev. 27.
Public policy and the need for judicial economy support the elimination of duplicity of litigation, especially where the plaintiff defined the issues, selected the forum, and presented his proof at the initial suit. To hold otherwise is to invite dissatisfied litigants to seek new adversaries and re-litigate on the pretense of newly discovered issues arising out of identical facts.
Interest republicae ut sit finis iitium. There must be an end to litigation. City of Wahpeton v. Drake-Henne, Inc., 228 N.W.2d 324 (N.D.1975), syllabus # 8 by the court.