LEGAL PRINCIPLE: CIVIL PROCEDURE — Estoppel — Res Judicata — Identity of Parties — Action Against Defendant Personally and Later in Representative Capacity
PRINCIPLE STATEMENT
Where an action is brought against the defendant personally and prosecuted to judgment, and later a further action is brought against him in a representative capacity, the judgment is not res judicata as the parties are not the same.
RATIO DECIDENDI (SOURCE)
Per Iguh, JSC, in Okukuje v. Akwido (2001) NLC-581992(SC) at p. 7; Paras A–B.
"Where an action is brought against the defendant personally and prosecuted to judgment, and later a further action is brought against him in a representative capacity by the plaintiff in the original action, the judgment is not res judicata as the parties to the respective actions are not the same, since in one action the defendant is sued personally and in the other as representative of a class of persons."
EXPLANATION / SCOPE
Suing a defendant personally differs from suing them in a representative capacity. The parties are not the same for res judicata purposes. A judgment against a person personally does not bind them when sued as representative of others. The representative capacity involves different interests and different parties (the class represented). The principle ensures that persons are not bound in a capacity different from the one in which they were previously sued. The reverse also applies: a judgment in a representative action does not bind the representative personally. The court examines the capacity in which the party was sued. Identity of parties requires identity of capacity.
