In Brief
Respondents (sons) filed a suit for partition of ancestral property and injunction against dispossession. The trial court dismissed the suit as barred by res judicata because their father had previously sued for the same property and lost. The High Court reversed this, holding the earlier suit did not bind the sons since different parties were involved. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, restoring the dismissal. The Court held that even where technical parties differ, res judicata bars re-litigation when the property and essential claims remain identical. A prior adverse judgment against the father over the same property prevents the sons from bringing the same dispute anew."
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