Blanks v. Brooks

By Judge J. Michael Gamble

I am writing this letter to furnish you with my opinion whether judgments which issued in previous cases preclude the issue of fault and/or negligence from being litigated in the above-styled matter on the grounds of either res judicata or collateral estoppel.

Mr. Shrader, on behalf of the plaintiff, Melissa W. Blanks, has filed a motion for summary judgment which asserts that as a result of the verdict in the case of Fred Allen Brooks v. Melissa W. Blanks tried in the Circuit Court of Amherst County with a jury on February 1, 1990, all matters of negligence between…