3rd Circuit Clarifies 'Morgan's Rule' in Reinstating Second Complaint Barred by Res Judicata
"The sheriff's sale occurred more than eight months after Harmon filed her first complaint, and therefore the first action does not bar her claims challenging the sheriff's sale," stated the per curiam opinion. "The District Court reasoned that Harmon could have amended her complaint in the first action to include these later-arising claims, but Morgan chose its bright-line rule in part to avoid 'disputes about whether plaintiffs could have amended their initial complaints to assert claims based on later-occurring incidents.'"
December 15, 2022 at 11:22 AM
3 minute read
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that the district court erred by relying on a not-precedential opinion in Sims v. Viacom to conclude that res judicata barred a plaintiff's second federal action over the property she owned in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Sandra Harmon appealed an order by the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware that dismissed her complaint as barred by res judicata, according to the opinion. In her first federal action over her Rehoboth Beach property, Harmon alleged that Sussex County issued a demolition order due to structural fire damage. Although she attempted to challenge the order, she did not pay the filing fee and the home was demolished on Sept. 14, 2017.
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