Herendeen v. Champion International Corp.
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
525 F.2d 130 (2d Cir. 1975)
James Herendeen (plaintiff) resigned from his sales job at Nationwide Papers (Nationwide) (defendant) in reliance on a promise of a new written contract and continued benefits. When the new contract never materialized, Herendeen sued Nationwide and its parent, U.S. Plywood-Champion Papers (Champion) (defendant), in state court for fraud, alleging an unenforceable oral agreement to agree; that suit was dismissed for failure to state a claim, without the court ever reaching damages. Herendeen later sued Champion, Nationwide, and his pension plan's trustees and administrators in federal court, this time seeking payments he claimed were owed under the pension plan's own regulations; the district court dismissed on res judicata grounds, and Herendeen appealed.
Whether res judicata bars a subsequent lawsuit when the wrongful conduct alleged in that suit differs from the wrongful conduct at issue in an earlier, already-decided action, even though both suits touch on the same pension benefits.