Court Opinion

ID: 9733911
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:20:10.270278+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:44.445321
License: Public Domain

NIX, Chief Justice,
concurring.
I have serious reservations as to the correctness of the judgment in Hurtt v. Stirone, 416 Pa. 463, 206 A.2d 624 (1965). The fact that a person is found guilty in a criminal trial should not preclude that individual from contesting his guilt of those facts in a civil trial. This does not mean that the fact of the criminal conviction may not be introduced during the subsequent civil trial. However, the court below treated the fact of the federal conviction as conclusive evidence of the facts. It does not, in my judgment, undermine the integrity of our system to allow a subsequent jury in a civil case to make its own independent judgment on the issue.
*218In this case, however, I can agree with the result because there was more than a mere finding by a jury of guilty, but, rather, an entry of a plea which represented the defendants’ admission. Under these circumstances, I can concur in the Order of the Court.