Rhoten v. Dickson

Hill, J.:

When discovery revealed the man who struck Danielle Rhoten’s car was not aware a Topeka police officer was chasing him, the federal court dismissed Danielle Rhoten’s civil rights complaint against the City of Topeka and one of its police officers. The federal judge found no causal connection between the police officer’s acts and Rhoten’s injury. After that ruling, the federal court declined to hear Rhoten’s state negligence claims, and she filed a lawsuit against the City and the officer in Shawnee District Court. Now, we must decide whether the legal doctrines of res judicata,…