O'Connor

Plaintiffs appeal from a judgment for defendants in a wrongful death action.

The issue on appeal is whether the trial court erroneously refused to apply the doctrine of collateral estoppel by judgment in favor of plaintiffs and against defendants on the issue of negligence.

On the evening of December 2, 1961, defendant Thomas O’Leary was employed by defendant Campus Drive-In Corporation as an attendant at the latter’s theatre; Dennis 0 'Con- nor was a patron of that theatre; and the two men engaged in an argument that developed into a fracas and culminated in the fatal stabbing of O’Connor by O’Leary. O’Leary was charged with the unlawful killing of O’Connor and was found guilty of the offense of involuntary manslaughter. Plaintiffs, as heirs o’f O’Connor, brought the instant action to recover damages on account of the latter’s death, which they claim was caused by the negligence of and assault by 0 ’Leary acting in the course of his employment by Campus Drive-In Corporation. The defendants in this action pled the defenses of contributory negligence and assumption of risk. At the trial plaintiffs invoked the doctrine of collateral estoppel by judgment to establish the negligence…