LEGAL PRINCIPLE: CIVIL PROCEDURE — Res Judicata — Parties in Representative and Personal Capacities
PRINCIPLE STATEMENT
An action brought against a defendant personally and later against him in a representative capacity does not create res judicata, as the parties are not the same. Similarly, a judgment in a representative action does not bind the same person personally.
RATIO DECIDENDI (SOURCE)
Per Iguh, JSC, in Ezeanya v. Okeke (1995) NLC-2651988(SC) at p. 17; Paras. A–C.
"Where an action is brought against a 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. So, too, where an action is brought by a plaintiff in a representative capacity against another person, personally, and the action is prosecuted to judgment whereby the defendant succeeds, that judgment is res judicata to the extent that it determines the personal rights of the defendant in the subject matter of the action; but it is not res judicata of any interests the defendant may later represent in an action brought against him in a representative capacity."
EXPLANATION / SCOPE
Res judicata requires identity of capacity. A judgment against a person personally does not bind them as a representative. The principle protects persons from being bound in a different capacity. The rule applies to both plaintiffs and defendants. The court will examine the capacity in which parties were sued. The principle promotes fairness. The party asserting res judicata must show identity of capacity.