Unlike many legal doctrines, collateral estoppel does not have a set of discrete elements established by the Supreme Court or a lower court. Factors for courts to consider include whether the plaintiff could have intervened in the earlier lawsuit, and whether applying collateral estoppel would be unfair to the defendant. The US Supreme Court has stated that courts have discretion about whether to allow the offensive use of collateral estoppel. Collateral estoppel can allow a plaintiff to enforce a prior judgment against a defendant on a particular issue. This often applies when the defendant was also involved in the prior lawsuit, but a new defendant might be able to assert collateral estoppel as well.Ī plaintiff can also make offensive use of collateral estoppel against a defendant who is the subject of a previous ruling. This may apply across jurisdictions, including between different states and between state and federal courts.Ī defendant can raise collateral estoppel as a defense in a new lawsuit, when the plaintiff previously obtained a ruling on the same issue. It prohibits the re-litigation of a factual or legal issue after a court has issued a final ruling on that issue. A litigant must carefully plan and prepare the claims or defenses that they will assert in a lawsuit to avoid missing something important, and then losing the opportunity to assert it at a later date.Ĭollateral estoppel is more difficult to define than res judicata, although its definition appears simple on the surface. While res judicata deals with questions of law, collateral estoppel can apply to issues of law or fact. The effect of this doctrine is not necessarily limited to the parties involved in the lawsuit that resulted in the final judgment.Ĭollateral estoppel is closely related to the doctrine of res judicata, also known as “claim preclusion,” which prevents a party from asserting a claim or cause of action after it is subject to a final judgment. ![]() ![]() Once a court has made a final judgment on a particular issue, the doctrine of collateral estoppel, or “issue preclusion,” states that the issue cannot be raised again. A party to a lawsuit might receive only one chance to assert a claim or raise a defense.
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