64 N.Y.S. 214 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1900
On the 17th of May, 1893, Peter W. Felix made a contract with Jeremiah Devlin as trustee, by which he agreed to buy certain premises for the sum of $23,900. After the contract was made there arose some dispute between the parties as to the title and quantity of the land, and, as they were unable to agree, Felix brought this action against Devlin’s successors to obtain a specific-performance of the contract with compensation for certain defects-in the title. The defendants in their answers admitted the making of the contract, and asked for a specific performance of it as it was made. So that the only question presented was whether the defendants were entitled to have the contract performed precisely as it ivas made, or whether Felix was entitled to the specific performance of the contract with a diminution of the purchase price by way of compensation for certain defects in the title and a deficiency in the quantity of the land sold.
After this suit became at issue, one Meldon, claiming to have an
Upon the trial of the Meldon case it was conceded that the property mentioned in the terms of sale in the Felix contract was property which belonged to the trustee in respect to which the accounting was sought, but that admission was made without prejudice to the claim on behalf of Felix that there was a failure of title to certain portions of the property described, and the court excluded all proof of the defects of the title or of the possession alleged in the complaint and no such questions were litigated upon the trial. The judgment entered in that action, so far as Felix was concerned, declared that he was a bona fide purchaser for value of part of the property, with a prior and superior equitable title and with prior equitable rights and interests to the other parties to that action, and it prescribed that the moneys to be paid by him when paid should be deposited to the credit of the action subject to the future order of the court. No further determination was made in respect to his
The' rule by which the extent of an adjudication is to be-determined is laid down with admirable clearness in the case of Cromwell v. County of Sac (94 U. S. 351). In that case there was. presented for consideration the distinction between the effect of a judgment as a bar against the prosecution of the second action upon the same claim or demand, and its effect as an estoppel in another action between the same parties, but on a different cause of action,, and it was held that where the first judgment was rendered in an action between the same parties upon the same demand and cause-of action it operated, when rendered upon the merits, as a conclusive adjudication not only as to every matter which was offered to-sustain or defeat the claim, but as to every other matter which might-have been proved for those purposes. But where the second action between the same parties was upon a different claim or demand the judgment in the prior action operated as an estoppel only as to those-matters in issue upon the determination of which the finding or verdict was rendered. That distinction has been recognized in this-State, although never, perhaps, so clearly put as in the case cited.. (Embury v. Conner, 3 N. Y. 511; Pray v. Hegeman, 98 id. 351 ; Campbell v. Consalus, 25 id. 613; House v. Lockwood, 137 id. 259 ;. Reynolds v. Ætna Fire Ins. Co., 160 id. 635.)
An examination of the record in the two' actions shows, as lia» been seen, that the action of Meldon was not brought upon the-same cause or demand as that brought by Felix. In the Meldon case a complete and final adjudication could be had and was had' without considering in any way the rights of Felix as against the-persons with whom he had contracted to purchase the land. Their-
The determination of the learned trial justice, therefore, was erroneous, and the judgment must be reversed and a new trial ordered, with costs to the appellant to abide the event.
Van Brunt, P. J., Patterson, O’Brien and McLaughlin, JJ., concurred.
Judgment reversed, new trial ordered, costs to appellant to abide event.