Hartman v. Pittsburg Inclined Plane Co.

Citations

• 23 Pa. Super. 360
• 1903 Pa. Super. LEXIS 74

Syllabus

<p>Judgment — Res adjudicada — Evidence—Nuisance.</p> <p>A judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction upon a question directly involved in one suit is conclusive as to that question in another suit between the same parties. But to this operation of the judgment it must appear, either upon the face of the record or be shown by extrinsic evidence, that the precise question was raised and determined in the former suit. If there be any uncertainty on this head in the record — as, for example if it appear that several distinct matters may have been litigated, and upon which the judgment was rendered- — the whole subject-matter of action will be at large, and open to anew contention unless this uncertainty be removed by extrinsic evidence showing the precise point involved and determined. To apply the judgment and give effect to the adjudication actually made, when the record leaves the matter in doubt, such evidence is admissible.</p> <p>In such a case, that is where the record leaves the matter in doubt and explanatory evidence has been given, the question of the conclusiveness in his favor of a former verdict and judgment for the plaintiff as to a matter directly involved in the second suit is to be determined, not by a mere inspection of the declaration filed in the former suit, but by the extrinsic evidence as to the claim submitted to and determined by the jury, lithe declaration in the first suit shows two claims, one of which is identical with the claim declared on in the second suit, it is competent to show that the other claim was eliminated from the case by judicial ruling or otherwise, and hence that the verdict and judgment were based on the claim identical with that declared on in the second suit.</p> <p>If the record of the former trial shows that the verdict and judgment in the plaintiff’s favor could not have been rendered without the existence and proof or admission of certain facts alleged in the declaration, there is a necessary implication, or, to