Baxter v. Utah Department of Transportation

HOWE, Justice:

In this quiet title action, defendant Utah Department of Transportation moved for and was granted summary judgment in the trial court on the basis that a judgment in a prior action collaterally estopped plaintiffs from bringing this action. Plaintiffs appeal, claiming that the prior action does not bind them since they were neither party nor privy to it.

At a Davis County tax sale in 1969, plaintiff Ronald L. Baxter, together with Ronald Toone and Thomas Hollberg (owner of plaintiff Rio Vista Oil), purchased an 18-acre tract of land from defendant Davis County. The deed was…