Fitch v. Vintage Petroleum, Inc.

STOKER, Judge.

This case involves the application of the principle of res judicata. The issue on appeal in this personal injury case is whether the trial court erred in precluding litigation of the fault issue and limiting the trial to quantum issues in a suit for damages allegedly sustained in an automobile accident.

Jimmy W. Fitch, Jr., one of the plaintiffs in the present case, had been a co-defendant in a prior case based on the same automobile accident. Robert E. Britt, one of the defendants in the present case, was also a co-defendant in the prior case. In the prior case, the jury…