Ursula Makariw, Administratrix of the Estate of Eugen Makariw, Deceased v. Ronald C. Rinard

KALODNER, Circuit Judge.

The District Court granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s action, under the Pennsylvania Wrongful Death and Survival Acts, on the ground that the doctrine of res adjudieata and collateral estoppel barred any recovery because the defendant had in a prior action, arising out of the same accident, recovered against the decedent’s employer on the jury’s finding that the decedent had been guilty of negligence.

The issue presented is whether a judgment in an earlier action to which neither the plaintiff nor her decedent was a party may be a bar to the…