Ordway v. White

Halpern, J. (concurring in result).

The question here presented is whether a judgment in favor of a passenger in an action against the owners and operators of two colliding vehicles, holding that both defendants were negligent, is res judicata or, more precisely, whether the judgment gives rise to a collateral estoppel, which bars a subsequent action by one of the defendants against the other for his own personal injuries and property damage.

One Harriet Dixon was a passenger in an automobile owned and operated by the plaintiff-respondent, Ordway, which collided with a tractor-trailer owned by…