Argument for Plaintiff in Error.

215 U.S.

VIRGINIA-CAROLINA CHEMICAL COMPANY v.

KIRVEN.

ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF SOUTH
CAROLINA.

No. 18. Argued November 2, 1909.-Decided December 6, 1909.

The claim of plaintiff in error that proper and full credit was not
given to a judgment in the Federal court, if seasonably made,
raises a Federal question and if the decision of the state court is
in effect against such claim this court has jurisdiction.
While the bar of a judgment in another action for the same claim or
demand between the same parties extends to not only what was,
but what might have been, pleaded or litigated in the first action,
if the second action is upon a different claim or demand the bar
of the first judgment is limited to that which was actually litigated.
Under § 914, Rev. Stat., requiring the practice in the Federal courts
to conform as near as may be to the practice in the state courts,
the defendant in an action in the United States Circuit Court in
South Carolina is not required to plead all counterclaims and offsets
as the state courts have not so construed the provisions of §§ 170,
171 of the Code of Procedure of that State.

When the question is the effect which should have been given by the

state court to a judgment of the United States Circuit Court, this court is not concerned with the extent to which the state court may have subsequently modified its view if it has not questioned the correctness of its decision in the case at bar.

77 So. Car. 493, affirmed.

THE facts are stated in the opinion.

Mr. P. A. Willcox and Mr. Frederic D. McKenney, with whom Mr. F. L. Willcox and Mr. Henry E. Davis were on the brief, for plaintiff in error:

The question litigated in the present suit was rendered res judicata by the judgment in the Federal court as it was matter that should have been set up as counterclaim. Such is the rule in South Carolina, §§ 170, 171, Code of Procedure, and under § 914, Rev. Stat., the practice of the Federal

215 U. S.

Argument for Plaintiff in Error.

courts must conform thereto. See Simonton, Fed. Courts, §§ 106, 152, 157; Haygood v. Boney, 43 S. Car. 63; Schunk v. Moline, 147 U. S. 500; Pickham v. Manufacturing Co., 77 Fed. Rep. 663; Turner v. Association, 101 Fed. Rep. 308; Partridge v. Insurance Co., 15 Wall. 573; 1 Van Fleet on Former Adjudication, §§ 168, 172; 23 Cyc. 1202; Black on Judgments, §767.

Where a party has an opportunity to litigate an issue in defense and fails to do so the judgment shuts off that defense, and if the same issues are being litigated in two courts the first final judgment will render the issues res judicata in the other court. Boatmen's Bank v. Fritzlein, 135 Fed. Rep. 650; 24 Am. & Eng. Ency., 2d ed., 833; 17 Ency. of P. & P. 265.

In determining the question of res judicata of an issue by judgment in the Federal court this court will be governed by its own decisions and not by those of the courts of the State. The right given by a judgment in the Federal court is one arising under the Constitution and cannot be taken away by the State, and this court has jurisdiction. Crescent City Co. v. Butchers' Union, 120 U. S. 141; Pittsburg R. R. Co. v. Long Island Trust Co., 172 U. S. 493; Dowell v. Applegate, 152 U. S. 327; Werlein v. New Orleans, 177 U. S. 390; National Foundry v. Supply Co., 183 U. S. 216; Cromwell v. Sac County, 94 U. S. 351.

The estoppel resulting from the thing adjudged does not depend on whether there is the same demand but on whether the second demand has been previously concluded by judgment between the same parties. New Orleans v. Citizens' Bank, 167 U. S. 371, 396; Supply Co. v. Mobile, 186 U. S. 212, 217; Bank v. Frankfort, 191 U. S. 499; Fayerweather v. Ritch, 195 U. S. 276, 301, Gunter v. Atlantic Coast Line, 200 U. S. 273, 290; United States v. California & Oregon Land Co., 192 U. S. 355; Northern Pac. Ry. Co. v. Slaght, 205 U. S. 122; Stockton v. Ford, 18 How. 418; Northern Pacific Ry. Co. v. United States, 168 U. S. 1; and see also Price v. Dewey, 11

Argument for Defendant in Error.

215 U. S.

Fed. Rep. 104; Nemetty v. Naylor, 100 N. Y. 562; Reichert v. Krass, 41 N. E. Rep. 835; Blair v. Bartlett, 75 N. Y. 150; Dunham v. Bower, 77 N. Y. 76; Gibson v. Bingham, 43 Vermont, 410; Rew v. School District, 106 Am. St. Rep. 282.

In reaching its judgment upholding the validity of the note the Federal court necessarily determined there was no failure of consideration, and that is the foundation of the action in the state court; prior to this case the decisions of the state court supported the principle contended for. Willoughby v. Railroad Co., 52 S. Car. 175; Ryan v. Association, 50 S. Car. 187.

This action cannot be sustained without depriving plaintiff in error of the benefit of a judgment of the Federal court.

In further support of the contentions of plaintiff in error see Mooklar v. Lewis, 40 Indiana, 1; Shepherd v. Temple, 3 N. H. 455, and the decision of the Supreme Court of South Carolina rendered since this case was decided. Greenwood Drug Co. v. Bromonia Co., 81 S. Car. 516.

Mr. Charles A. Douglas, with whom Mr. W. F. Stevenson and Mr. E. O. Woods were on the brief, for defendant in error: This court is without jurisdiction. The point that full faith and credit was not given to the judgment of the Federal court does not appear in the record and a general statement is not sufficient, and questions other than Federal are involved.

The first judgment is not res judicata in regard to the question in the second suit. The rule requiring a party to assert all defenses does not apply to defendant's claims against plaintiff by way of counterclaims and set-off. 1 Van Fleet, §§ 168-172; Black on Judgments, § 768; Davis v. Hedges, L. R. 6 Q. B. 687; Kennedy v. Davisson, 33 S. E. Rep. 292; Riley v. Hole, 33 N. E. Rep. 491; Conner v. Varney, 10 Gray, 231; Myrian v. Woodcock, 104 Massachusetts, 326; Gilmore v. Williams, 38 N. E. Rep. 976; 19 Ency. P. & P. 731; 24 Am. & Eng. Ency. 785. The questions of failure of consideration and damages to crop were not involved in the

first suit and the judgment was not res judicata in regard to those issues.

MR. JUSTICE MCKENNA delivered the opinion of the court.

This case involves the question as to whether the state courts gave due force and effect to a judgment of the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of South Carolina in an action brought by plaintiff in error against the defendant in error.

The action in the case at bar was brought by defendant in error, whom we shall call Kirven, against plaintiff in error, whom we shall call the Chemical Company, for damages resulting from the defective manufacture of certain fertilizers bought by Kirven of the Chemical Company, through one McCall, to whom he gave his note for twenty-two hundred and twenty-eight dollars. The allegation of complainant is: "That the said fertilizers, to wit, acid phosphate and dissolved bone, had been manufactured with such gross negligence and want of skill that, instead of being of advantage to the crops to which they were applied, they destroyed the same in large part, and were not only worthless to the plaintiff, but, by destroying his crops, damaged him very heavily, and by the injury which was inflicted on his crop of cotton and corn by fertilizers which were manufactured and sold for use upon them, he was damaged in the sum of $1,995."

The Chemical Company, in its answer, set up, among other defenses, the judgment of the Circuit Court of the United States. The plea was not sustained and judgment was entered for Kirven for the amount sued for, which was affirmed by the Supreme Court of the State. Kirven v. VirginiaCarolina Chemical Co., 77 S. Car. 493.

The facts, so far as necessary to be stated, are as follows: The Chemical Company, being a New Jersey corporation, brought action against Kirven in the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of South Carolina on the note before mentioned. Kirven, among other defenses, set up

that the note was given for fertilizers, "for which he agreed to pay a sound price, which is set forth in the note sued upon, and were purchased for the use of the defendant himself and his tenants and customers in making a crop for the year in which the said note was given, but the said fertilizers were so unskillfully manipulated and manufactured and prepared, and were of such inferior quality, that instead of being a benefit to the crops of defendant and his tenants and customers, to whom he furnished the same, they were deleterious and destructive to the crops, and destroyed the same in large part, and there was an entire failure of consideration to the defendant for said note."

Kirven subsequently filed a supplementary answer, in which he omitted, the Chemical Company not objecting, the defense above set out, but pleaded as a counterclaim certain proceedings instituted by the Chemical Company in North Carolina, in which it attached certain cotton belonging to Kirven, sold the same and "applied and appropriated the proceeds to its own use and benefit." The value of the cotton and the amount "so seized and appropriated" were alleged to be twenty-four hundred and fifty dollars ($2,450.00).

Kirven, when testifying as to the purchase of the fertilizers, said: "I did not know anything, until later on, there was a complete destruction of my crop." Counsel for the company objected "to the latter clause, on the ground that that whole question is taken out of the complaint." The objection was sustained and the answer stricken out. The Chemical Company recovered judgment for nine hundred eleven dollars and seven cents ($911.07).

A motion is made to dismiss the writ of error, on the grounds (1) that the assignment of errors in the Supreme Court of the State lacked certainty of specification, as it only stated that the refusal by the trial court to give proper and full credit to the judgment of the Circuit Court, "thereby denied to the defendant [the Chemical Company] a right arising under the authority of the United States." This, it