State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance v. Holland

FRYE, Justice.

The question before the Court is whether the Court of Appeals correctly reversed the trial court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of defendant. In order to answer this question, we .must determine whether a Carver issue, decided adversely to the mother of a deceased child in a wrongful death action, can serve *468as the basis for collateral estoppel so as to conclusively establish the liability of that parent for the purposes of contribution. For the reasons stated hereafter, we answer both questions in the negative.

The facts in this case are as follows: On 14 December 1983,…