Court Opinion

ID: 9709329
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 03:44:59.677746+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:47.762710
License: Public Domain

Carter and Boslaugh, JJ.,
concurring in the result.
We concur in the result in the foregoing case. We do not agree with certain statements appearing in the opinion of the majority.
The record shows that in a previous appeal to this court the judgment of the district court holding against the relator was affirmed. State ex rel. Weasmer v. Manpower of Omaha, Inc., 161 Neb. 387, 73 N. W. 2d 692. In that opinion it was adjudicated that under the facts pleaded the relator was not entitled to an injunction. A new action was commenced alleging that on occasions subsequent to the final determination of the former case the respondent has violated sections 48-501 and 48-502, R. R. S. 1943. The respondent alleged, in addition to a general denial, that the present case is predicated on the same facts as the earlier case and that the judgment in the former case is res judicata of the issues here presented. At the close of relator’s case the trial court sustained a motion to dismiss relator’s petition for the reason that the previous case completely adjudicated the issues raised in the second case. This was error, as the majority holds, for the reason that the issue of res judicata must be established by evidence. The respondent having introduced no evidence to establish res judicata, there was no basis for the court’s order dismissing relator’s petition. Assuming that respondent could establish res judicata by evidence, the ruling of the court was premature. On this basis we concur in the result. We submit that this is the point where the opinion should be concluded.
We disagree with that part of the opinion holding that a judicial determination of acts committed prior to July 2, 1954, may not be res judicata of identical acts committed after January 3, 1956. Our reasons for so doing are two. First, it is not an issue presently before the court and is, therefore, obiter dictum. Second, it *539is not a correct statement of the law. The first reason has been adequately explained and we shall devote no further space to it. With reference to the second reason, we adopt the following as a concise statement of our views: “Speaking broadly, the rule of res judicata means that when a court of competent jurisdiction has determined, on its merits, a litigated cause, the judgment entered, until reversed, is, forever and under all circumstances, final and conclusive as between the parties to the suit and their privies, in respect to every fact which might properly be considered in reaching a judicial determination of the controversy, and in respect to all points of the law there adjudged, as those points relate directly to the cause of action in litigation and affect the fund or other subject matter then before the court. And under some circumstances, a judgment will, in certain respects, so establish the legal status of an object or person directly involved in a suit as to bind all parties who may subsequently deal with it or him, even though those thus dealing may have had no connection with the litigation in which the judgment was entered. Issues of fact actually determined in a prior suit, and also those which were relevant subjects for determination therein, cannot be re-examined in a subsequent legal proceeding, between the same parties or their privies, involving the identical cause of action formerly tried. Even where the cause of action in a pending suit is not identical with that previously litigated between the parties, all relevant issues of fact that were actually raised in the prior litigation are res judicata between the parties and their privies,- though, under such circumstances (that is, where the second suit turns on a different cause of action) issues which might have been, but were not, raised and determined in the prior suit, are not accounted in law as res judicata. Finally, the rule of res judicata holds good not only in the court which rendered the judgment in question, but in other tribunals where the same facts or points of law may *540later be directly at issue.” Moschzisker on Stare Decisis, Res Judicata and Other Selected Essays, p. 32.
It is our position, under the general rules governing the doctrine of res judicata, that the pleading and proof of similar factual situations though occurring at subsequent times do not preclude the defense of res judicata. The doctrine of res judicata affects principally issues of fact. If an issue of fact has been finally determined, the doctrine of res judicata applies to it. Identity of parties or their privies and identity of causes of action are sufficient to invoke the doctrine. It has been said that for the purposes of res judicata there is identity of causes of action when in both the old and new proceedings the subject matter and the ultimate issues are the same.
It is fundamental that facts litigated in civil actions are not res judicata in subsequent criminal proceedings, and vice versa. Hahn v. Bealor, 132 Pa. 242, 19 A. 74; Stone v. United States, 167 U. S. 178, 17 S. Ct. 778, 42 L. Ed. 127. The reason for this is obvious. Usually the parties are not the same and what is more important still as between criminal and civil cases, different standards of evidence and proof are involved. This is a complete answer to the assertion that statutory violations cannot be tolerated and permitted by invoking the doctrine of res judicata in civil actions. We submit further that the doctrine of stare decisis can have no application in a case such as we have here. In any event, it is not a doctrine binding upon the courts. It is used to expedite the work of courts by preventing the constant reconsideration of settled questions. It has no application where, as here asserted in the opinion of the majority, there has been no final adjudication in the former case.
We therefore submit that the question as to whether or not the doctrine of res judicata is a defense in the present case is not before the court and that the discussion of that subject by the majority opinion is obiter *541dictum. We submit also that the discussion of the subjects of res judicata and stare decisis as they relate to the present case find no support under the general rules of law applicable to such subjects. We submit further that the holdings of this court support the view we have herein expressed. If there be applicable exceptions to such rules, they should be cited. Incorrect statements of law in an opinion, although they may be properly classified as dicta, can only tend to mislead in the subsequent trial of the case.