## Facts

- An attorney, Samuel W. Emery, sought to recover fees and disbursements from his client, Hovey, for legal services performed in Maine and New Hampshire.
- Emery first sued Hovey in Maine to recover the fees.
- In the Maine action, Hovey relied on a Maine statute barring recovery for professional services by a person not admitted to practice in Maine, and the court directed a verdict for Hovey.
- Emery then filed a New Hampshire action seeking recovery for the same fees.
- Hovey asserted the Maine judgment as a defense of former adjudication (res judicata), and the New Hampshire trial court entered judgment for Hovey.
- On appeal, Emery argued New Hampshire should not treat the Maine judgment as conclusive because the Maine court lacked jurisdiction.

## Issues

1. Whether a prior Maine judgment, entered by a court with jurisdiction over the parties and cause, conclusively bars a subsequent New Hampshire action seeking the same attorney’s fees.
2. Whether the Maine judgment could be collaterally attacked in New Hampshire on the ground that it was entered without jurisdiction.

## Decision

- The New Hampshire Supreme Court affirmed judgment for Hovey.
- The court held the Maine court had complete jurisdiction over the parties and the cause, so its judgment was conclusive in New Hampshire.
- Any alleged errors in the Maine decision were not reviewable in New Hampshire and could be corrected only through proceedings in Maine.
- Because the claim was transitory and had been fully adjudicated in Maine, res judicata barred the New Hampshire suit.

## Legal Principles

- A judgment of a sister-state court of record, rendered with jurisdiction over the parties and subject matter, must be given conclusive effect in other states.
- Such a judgment is binding elsewhere even if it contains errors of law or fact; those errors are not grounds for collateral attack in a different state.
- When a transitory cause of action is litigated to final judgment in a competent forum chosen by the plaintiff, the resulting judgment precludes subsequent litigation of the same claim in another state.

## Conclusion

The New Hampshire Supreme Court held that the prior Maine judgment, rendered with full jurisdiction, was final and conclusive and therefore barred Emery from relitigating the same attorney-fee claim in New Hampshire.


Emery v. Hovey, 84 N.H. 499, 153 A. 322 (N.H. 1931)