Smith v. Kirkpatrick

In Smith v. Kirkpatrick, 305 NY 66 [1953], the applicable principle of law was stated as follows: "it is familiar law that where a cause of action has been prosecuted to a final adjudication on the merits, the same cause of action may not be again litigated. It is said that the prior adjudication is conclusive as to all things which might have been litigated as well as those actually litigated but that where a subsequent proceeding is had upon a different cause of action between the same parties or their privies only such things as were actually and necessarily determined in the prior proceeding are held to be concluded. . . . " .