Carlson

This appeal arises from a fight between two coworkers, Harry Carlson and Arnold Wald. In this action, Carlson sued Wald for assault and battery and Wald cross-complained in kind. Mrs. Wald sued Carlson in a separate lawsuit, now consolidated with her husband’s action, for loss of consortium resulting from the same fight. The Walds appeal from the trial court’s summary judgments adjudicating that there was no merit in Wald’s cross-complaint or Mrs. Wald’s complaint. The summary judgments were grounded on Carlson’s arguments that the Walds were bound under res judicata by a prior workers’ compensation judgment and, as to Mrs. Wald only, that she suffered, at best, a noncompensable partial loss of consortium. Both bases are incorrect and we reverse.

Res Judicata

The fight took place at work on March 10, 1977. On November 7, 1977, Wald filed an application for adjudication of claim with the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB), claiming that his supervisor, Carlson, had assaulted him. The workers’ compensation judge denied the claim on the basis that Wald was the “initial physical aggressor.” That ruling has, after several petitions for review by Wald proved…