Hindmarsh v. Mock
Idaho Supreme Court
57 P.3d 803 (2002)
- Written by Salina Kennedy, JD
Facts
Connie Hindmarsh (plaintiff) sued Martin Mock (defendant) in small-claims court for property damage resulting from a car accident caused by Mock. The court awarded Hindmarsh $3,000 in damages. One year later, Hindmarsh sued Mock in district court for personal injuries related to the same car accident. Mock filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that Hindmarsh’s personal-injury claim was barred by res judicata because the small-claims court had previously issued a final judgment concerning the car accident. The district court granted the motion for summary judgment, finding that applying the doctrine of res judicata to small-claims-court judgments promoted the public policy of finality in judicial rulings. Hindmarsh appealed, and the court of appeals reversed, holding that res judicata is inapplicable to small-claims-court judgments. The court reasoned that applying res judicata to small-claims-court judgments would frustrate the public-policy goal of allowing litigants to resolve property-damage claims in a quick and inexpensive forum. Mock appealed to the Idaho Supreme Court.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Trout, C.J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
