## Facts

- Dr. Robert M. Little drove an automobile that collided with a passenger bus owned and operated by Blue Goose Motor Coach Co. at an intersection in East St. Louis, Illinois.
- Blue Goose first sued Dr. Little before a justice of the peace for property damage to the bus arising from the collision.
- After hearing evidence, the justice court entered judgment for Blue Goose against Dr. Little for $139.35, necessarily determining Dr. Little’s negligence as the cause of the collision.
- Dr. Little attempted to appeal that judgment, but the appeal was dismissed, leaving the judgment final.
- While the property-damage case was pending, Dr. Little filed a separate action in the City Court of East St. Louis seeking damages for personal injuries from the same collision.
- Dr. Little died; Mabel A. Little, as executrix of his estate, continued the action, seeking recovery based on the same alleged wrongful act.
- Blue Goose pleaded estoppel by verdict (collateral estoppel), asserting that the prior judgment resolving negligence against Dr. Little barred re-litigation of negligence in the later action.
- The city court entered judgment for the executrix for $5,000; the appellate court reversed on estoppel grounds.

## Issues

1. Whether a final justice-court judgment determining Dr. Little’s negligence in a property-damage action precluded his executrix from litigating negligence in a later personal-injury/wrongful-death action arising from the same collision.
2. Whether the executrix was in privity with Dr. Little for purposes of issue preclusion.
3. Whether the later action avoided preclusion because it sought different damages and relief than the earlier property-damage suit.

## Decision

- The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court’s reversal of the city-court judgment.
- The Court held that the earlier justice-court judgment operated as estoppel by verdict (collateral estoppel) on the negligence issue.
- Because negligence was previously litigated and determined against Dr. Little in a final judgment, the executrix was barred from re-litigating negligence as a basis for recovery arising from the same collision.
- The Court treated the executrix as in privity with Dr. Little and therefore bound by the prior determination.

## Legal Principles

- Estoppel by verdict (collateral estoppel) bars re-litigation of a material issue of fact when that issue was actually determined in a prior final judgment between the same parties or their privies.
- Issue identity is satisfied when the same negligence question—responsibility for the collision—is essential to both suits, even if the later suit requests a different form of relief.
- Privity exists where the later plaintiff stands in the legal position of a prior party regarding claims arising from the same transaction, including an executrix pursuing claims tied to the decedent’s rights.
- A prior judgment is preclusive when it is final, including where an attempted appeal is dismissed and the judgment remains in force.
- For wrongful-death-based recovery, the actionable wrong is the alleged negligent act causing the injury and death; changing the measure of damages does not avoid preclusion when entitlement depends on re-litigating an issue already decided.

## Conclusion

A final justice-court judgment resolving negligence against a decedent in a property-damage action collaterally estops the decedent’s executrix, as a privy, from re-litigating that negligence issue in a later personal-injury or wrongful-death action arising from the same collision, even though the later action seeks different damages.


Little v. Blue Goose Motor Coach Co., 346 Ill. 266, 178 N.E. 496 (Ill. 1931)