Rush v. City of Maple Heights

From the Court's Syllabus

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This cause was commenced in the Court of Common Pleas of Cuyahoga County as an action to recover damages for personal injuries resulting from a fall while plaintiff, appellee herein, was riding on a motorcycle over a street in defendant city of Maple Heights, appellant herein.

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She alleges further that the defendant was negligent in failing to keep Schreiber Road in good repair and free from nunisance, in suffering large holes, ‘bumps' and ‘dips' to exist in the regularly traveled portion of the street, and in failing to erect warning signs giving notice of the unsafe and dangerous condition of Schreiber Road; that the city had notice; and that her injuries were caused directly and proximately by the negligence of the defendant city.

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Thereafter the plaintiff herein, Lenore Rush, duly filed an action for damage to personal property in the Municipal Court of Cleveland, Ohio. . . against the defendant herein, the city of Maple Heights. . . [T]he Municipal Court of Cleveland rendered its judgment in favor of the plaintiff therein, Lenore Rush [including] 

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That the city was negligent in nor repairing the hole complained of in plaintiff's petition

That such negligence on the part of the city was the proximate cause of the damages sustained by plaintiff in the amount of $100.

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[B]ecause the allegations of negligence were the same in each suit, the trial court found "[t]he issue of negligence is therefore res judicata between the parties. . ." The jury subsequently "returned a verdict for the plaintiff in the amount of $12,000" which the Court of Appeals affirmed."