Stewart v. Copitas

Citations

• 256 Pa. 54
• 100 A. 541
• 1917 Pa. LEXIS 559

Syllabus

<p>Actions — Res adjudicata — Judgment—Failure to offer judgment in evidence.</p> <p>1. A mere reference to a judgment in a statement of claim or in the oral testimony of a witness is not proper legal evidence of it or of what action, if any, had been taken upon it by the other party to it, and in such case it is not before the court as’ a basis for any action upon it.</p> <p>2. Where in an action to recover damages alleged to have been suffered by plaintiff through fraud practiced upon him in his purchase of certain property, it is alleged that plaintiff was precluded from recovery by a judgment entered against him under the terms of the contract of sale for the balance of the purchase-money due, where the judgment was not offered in evidence at the trial, but was merely referred to in the statement of claim and in the oral testimony of a witness, the judgment was not before the court, and the entry of a compulsory nonsuit on the ground that plaintiff was precluded by such judgment from recovery was reversible error.</p>