Ralph Wolff & Sons (P) had a fire in their candy factory. They had twelve insurance policies on the property for a total sum of $19,500. P sued to recover on the policies. P consolidated suits against nine of their insurers on as many policies for an aggregate of $14,500 in claims. The jury returned a verdict for $2,500. Judgment was rendered for the fractional part of the total coverage ((14,500/19500) x 2500 = $1858.97)). P then sued two other insurers (D) for $1,000. D claimed that P was estopped by the first judgment and that their liability was only (1000/19500) x 2500 = 128.21.

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