Evans

We hold that after a plaintiff has lost a personal injury suit and then dies, the ensuing judgment collaterally estops his heirs from any new lawsuit for wrongful death arising from the same injury.

Plaintiffs, the widow and children of the deceased Stokes Evans, appeal from a judgment of dismissal entered on their wrongful death complaint against Celotex Corporation (Celotex). The complaint alleged that Evans’s death was caused by exposure to asbestos products made or sold by defendant Celotex and others.

In a prior personal injury action, Evans sued Celotex and other companies, claiming that he developed asbestosis as a result of occupational exposure to asbestos products manufactured by the defendant companies while he worked at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard from 1944 through 1958. A jury returned a general defense verdict and judgment was entered on January 17, 1983. Evans died two days later. On January 17, 1984, plaintiffs filed a wrongful death action.

Celotex argued that plaintiffs were collaterally barred from proceeding because of the adverse verdict in the personal injury action. The trial court agreed and ordered the wrongful death action be dismissed.…