What is the test for res judicata in a personal injury action?

The facts are not involved and some legal points are clear and these are conceded by the majority. Three plaintiffs obtained judgments against defendant in an action in which his liability is based, by virtue of the pleadings, the instructions to the jury, the jury's verdict and the judgment itself, on the negligence of the defendant; that issue was necessarily involved, indeed, it was the only issue except the fact and amount of damages. One of the plaintiffs was granted a new trial, but as to the others, the judgment became final, and the trial court denied the plea of res judicata on the retrial as to the one plaintiff. There was a privity between the plaintiff obtaining the new trial and one of the other plaintiffs, her husband, see Zaragosa v. Craven, 33 Cal.2d 315, 202 P.2d [47 Cal.2d 898] 73, 6 A.L.R.2d 461, hence there can be no question that the judgment for the husband-plaintiff was res judicata. No point is made that these judgments for all three plaintiffs were given in the same action, and I take it the situation would be no different if they had been obtained in separate and different actions. The judgment for the plaintiff-husband was res judicata as it was based upon underlying pleadings which presented the issue of defendant's liability his negligence; the jury was instructed on that issue; its verdict was general, thus deciding that issue; and the judgment was on the verdict and therefore decided that issue. We have, therefore, a clear case of the judgment being res judicata on the question of defendant's liability as to one plaintiff-wife who was in privity to the plaintiff-husband Zaragosa v. Craven, supra. In such a case we have a situation where under the doctrine of res judicata, the defendant is collaterally estopped to question the final determination that he was negligent. Yet the majority arrives at a different conclusion by reasoning that the verdict on which the judgment was based was a compromise (supposedly low damages because some jurors thought there should be no liability) which is true because the judgment as to plaintiff-wife, as to which a new trial was granted, was a compromise because the damages were lower than the amount of the special damages suffered and proved. It is then concluded that defendant and plaintiff-husband 'accepted' the compromise verdict and thus, in effect, compromised the res judicata judgment; hence there is no collateral estoppel because a judgment based on a compromise does not give rise to such estoppel.