Article 10. Judgments of California Evidence Code >> Division 10. >> Chapter 2. >> Article 10.

Evidence of a final judgment adjudging a person guilty of a crime punishable as a felony is not made inadmissible by the hearsay rule when offered in a civil action to prove any fact essential to the judgment whether or not the judgment was based on a plea of nolo contendere.

Evidence of a final judgment is not made inadmissible by the hearsay rule when offered by the judgment debtor to prove any fact which was essential to the judgment in an action in which he seeks to:
  (a) Recover partial or total indemnity or exoneration for money paid or liability incurred because of the judgment;
  (b) Enforce a warranty to protect the judgment debtor against the liability determined by the judgment; or
  (c) Recover damages for breach of warranty substantially the same as the warranty determined by the judgment to have been breached.

When the liability, obligation, or duty of a third person is in issue in a civil action, evidence of a final judgment against that person is not made inadmissible by the hearsay rule when offered to prove such liability, obligation, or duty.