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Kerns v. Schmidt6/9/1994
d as asserting the rebuttable presumption that a child born during marriage is presumed to be the issue of the marriage. Additionally, there is no evidence that the domestic relations court based its ruling upon R.C. 3111.03(B) and the Court shall not accept Defendant Baker's invitation to speculate as to the grounds for the decision regarding the status of the child. One last point, the Court has carefully examined the divorce decree and notes that the decree does not acknowledge that the artificial insemination of Defendant Baker was, in fact, a non-spousal artificial insemination. Based upon the foregoing, the Court views these causes of action as separate and distinct."
Concluding that the doctrine of res judicata did not bar the action as between Kerns and Baker, the court overruled Baker's motion for summary judgment. Nevertheless, the court's dismissal of the action as to Baker in its decision on Schmidt's motion to dismiss effectively concluded Kerns's lawsuit.
In Whitehead v. Gen. Tel. Co. (1969), 20 Ohio St.2d 108, 112, 49 O.O.2d 435, 437-438, 254 N.E.2d 10, 12, the court articulated the doctrine of res judicata as follows:
"The doctrine of res judicata involves two basic concepts. * * * First, it refers to the effect a judgment in a prior action has in a second action based upon the same cause of action. The Restatement of the Law, Judgments, Section 45, uses the terms 'merger' and 'bar.' If the plaintiff in the prior action is successful, the entire cause of action is 'merged' in the judgment. The merger means that a successful plaintiff cannot recover again on the same cause of action, although hsmay maintain an action to enforce the judgment. If the defendant is successful in the prior action, the plaintiff is 'barred' from suing, in a subsequent action, on the same cause of action. The bar aspect of the doctrine of res judicata is sometimes called 'estoppel by judgment.' Restatement of the Law, Judgments, Section 45, comment (b).
"The second aspect of the doctrine of res judicata is 'collateral estoppel.' While the merger and bar aspects of res judicata have the effect of precluding a plaintiff from relitigating in the same cause of action against the same defendant, the collateral estoppel aspect precludes the relitigation, in a second action, of an issue that has been actually and necessarily litigated and determined in. a prior action which was based on a different cause of action. * * * In short, under the rule of collateral estoppel, even where the cause of action is different in a subsequent suit, a judgment in a prior suit may nevertheless affect the outcome of the second suit." (Emphasis sic.)
Thus, the issue with regard to Kerns's claims against Baker in the case at bar is whether the domestic relations court's determination in the divorce decree, that one child was born as issue of the marriage, operated to collaterally estop Kerns from relitigating this issue in the instant action.
In Gilbraith v. Hixson (1987), 32 Ohio St.3d 127, 129, 512 N.E.2d 956, 959, the court held the doctrine of res judicata operates to give conclusive effect to a determination of parentage contained in a dissolution decree or legitimation order, thus barring a subsequent parentage action. Likewise, a determination of parentage contained in a divorce decree would also invoke the doctrine of res judicata, thus barring a subsequent claim based upon an issue of parentage.
Although the trial court properly concluded that the domestic relations court did not resolve the issue of Kerns's consent to the artificial insemination, Kerns was collaterally estopped by the divorce decree from relitigating the parentage issue in this case. In
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