Can a judgment in an unlawful detainer action be used as a bar to recover damages in the present action?

Besides constituting a different cause of action, there is another reason why the judgment in the former case cannot act as a bar to these causes of action in the present case. As the Restatement Second of Judgments instructs, the bar of res judicata does not apply where "[t]he plaintiff was unable to rely on a certain theory of the case or to seek a certain remedy or form of relief in the first action because of the limitations on the subject matter jurisdiction of the courts or restrictions on their authority to entertain multiple theories or demands for multiple remedies or forms of relief in a single action, and the plaintiff desires in the second action to rely on that theory or to seek that remedy or form of relief." (Rest.2d Judgments, 26 subd. (1)(c).) This point is illustrated in Roberts v. Redlich (1952) 111 Cal.App.2d 566, 244 P.2d 933. There a landlord sued for damages caused by defendant tenant's holding over after the termination of his lease. The tenant claimed a judgment for damages in an unlawful detainer action barred the present action. Rejecting this claim, the court noted that damages in the unlawful detainer action under the circumstances were limited to those which occurred during the detention and up to trial. The damages awarded in the present case in contrast were limited to the period following the trial. "Such damages were not recoverable in the former action. The judgment rendered in the former action did not operate as a bar to the recovery of the damages awarded in the present action." (Id. at p. 570, 244 P.2d 933.)