Schuylkill Fuel Corp. v. B&C Nieberg Realty Corp

In Schuylkill Fuel Corp. v. B&C Nieberg Realty Corp., 250 NY 304 (1929) plaintiffs brought an action against the defendants where the same contract provisions had already been litigated. The first court having decided that the contract called for joint liability, Judge Cardozo declared that "the defendants may not now be heard to claim that it is several." 250 NY at 306. He concluded that "as often as an attempt is made to enforce the written contract according to its terms, the former judgment will be conclusive as to the meaning of those terms and their effect" and "the writing with its execution stands admitted in meaning and effect as it has already been adjudicated." Id. at 309.