LIN ANN CRADIT V MICHAEL ALVIN MCKNIGHT
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
LIN ANN CRADIT,
UNPUBLISHED
December 16, 2003
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
No. 242909
Saginaw Circuit Court
LC No. 02-042233-DP
MICHAEL ALVIN McKNIGHT,
Defendant-Appellant.
Before: Fitzgerald, P.J., and Neff and White, JJ.
MEMORANDUM.
Defendant appeals as of right orders of filiation and child support. We affirm. This
appeal is being decided without oral argument pursuant to MCR 7.214(E).
In a prior action, plaintiff sought and obtained child support from her then-husband,
asserting that he was the legal father of her son. In a subsequent divorce action, a judgment was
entered indicating that defendant was the biological father of the child, and the ex-husband was
not. Plaintiff then filed this paternity action, seeking support from defendant.
Defendant asserts that the trial court erred in denying his motion for summary disposition
based on res judicata. Res judicata requires that: (1) the prior action was decided on the merits;
(2) the decree in the prior action was a final decision; (3) the matter contested in the second case
was or could have been resolved in the first; and (4) both actions involved the same parties or
their privies. Baraga County v State Tax Comm, 466 Mich 264, 269; 645 NW2d 13 (2002).
A support order arising from a divorce constitutes an adjudication of paternity, and
precludes relitigation of that issue between the same parties. Hackley v Hackley, 426 Mich 582,
585; 395 NW2d 906 (1986). This action does not involve the same parties as the prior support
action or the divorce, and res judicata is not applicable. Defendant’s paternity could not be
established in the divorce judgment between plaintiff and her ex-husband. Pruitt v Pruitt, 90
Mich App 230; 282 NW2d 785 (1979). The trial court did not err in finding that this action was
not barred by res judicata.
-1-
Affirmed.
/s/ E. Thomas Fitzgerald
/s/ Janet T. Neff
/s/ Helene N. White
-2-
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