Court Opinion

ID: 9666924
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:30:19.510268+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:33.571231
License: Public Domain

C.C. Gibson, III, Special Justice, concurring. I am satisfied that the issue of liability in this case was actually litigated between the parties in the previous Pulaski County action and that the determination of the Pulaski County jury relative thereto was essential to the judgment in that case. In view of the Pulaski County judgment having been affirmed by this court on appeal I agree that the trial court action in this case should be affirmed. I do, however, have serious concerns about the statements in the majority opinion that appear to give blanket approval to the use of lower court rulings and judgments not yet tested on appeal for collateral estoppel purposes. The Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 27 (1982) states that the issue to be precluded by collateral estoppel must be determined by a “valid and final judgment” before application of the doctrine is appropriate. The terminology of this rule has been adopted by our court, David Newbern, Arkansas Civil Practice and Procedure § 26-13 (2d ed. 1993), and is in accord with our decisions in this area of the law. E.g., Fisher v. Jones, 311 Ark. 450, 455, 844 S.W.2d 954, 957 (1993). Notwithstanding the “valid and final judgment” requirement, the Restatement as a general proposition supports the use of collateral estoppel even when such is based on a trial court ruling still subject to post-ruling motions and which are not even final enough for an appeal. See Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 13 cmts. f and g, and illus. 3 (1982). It does not take much imagination to see the possibility of inconsistent results between the outcome in the first proceeding and the second, a thing which, if it occurs, subjects our courts and our system of justice to public ridicule, particularly if the inconsistency is egregious. The Restatement attempts to address this problem by saying such things as “the court should determine that the decision to be carried over was adequately deliberated and firm” and that “preclusion should be refused if the decision was avowedly tentative.” Id. cmt. g. The Restatement seems to be saying that a court should take a look at all the circumstances surrounding the matter of finality before applying the estoppel. The Restatement also offers relief from the inconsistent result dilemma by opining that a judgment based on the earlier judgment subsequently overturned could be set aside and proper provision made for restitution. See id. § 16. There are, however, situations when such would be very poor solace to an estopped litigant who has involuntarily paid a judgment. What if the recipient of a satisfaction of judgment has spent the money and is incapable of making restitution? In such a situation the Restatement remedy may be likened to the closing of the proverbial barn door after the cow has been loosed. It is my opinion that in addition to all other existing circumstances a trial court should consider the danger of irreparable harm to the litigants in applying collateral estoppel based on another trial court’s judgment that is still subject to reversal on appeal, particularly in cases like this which involve claims for substantial money damages. A trial court should have the discretion to delay proceedings pending the finality of another trial court’s judgment being tested on appeal. I realize that such a delay could work somewhat to the detriment persons such as appellee Pinson in this case, but it was, after all, she who refused to present her damage claim in the Pulaski County action and insisted on having same heard in her home county. This is a strategy she decided to follow, a strategy which has obvious benefits and which has certain drawbacks such as the possibility of delay.