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issue preclusion
Issue preclusion, also known as collateral estoppel, prevents the re-litigation of issues that were actually litigated and essential to a valid and final judgment in a prior case. It applies to subsequent actions involving the same parties or their legal privies, even if the second case involves a different cause of action.
The four required elements are:
- The prior judgment must be valid, final, and on the merits.
- The identical issue must be raised in the subsequent proceeding.
- The issue must have been actually litigated and determined.
- The determination of the issue must have been essential to the judgment.
Issue preclusion is distinct from claim preclusion (res judicata). Claim preclusion bars the re-litigation of the same cause of action in its entirety. Issue preclusion, by contrast, bars only the re-litigation of discrete issues that were fully adjudicated. This means issue preclusion may apply even when a different claim is raised, if a key issue has already been resolved.
For example, in Little v. Blue Goose Motor Coach Co., 346 Ill. 266 (1931), the plaintiff sought damages for medical expenses. The Court held that the issue of negligence had already been decided in a prior case between the same parties and was therefore precluded from being relitigated.
Issue preclusion may also apply in cases involving alternative judgments; i.e. situations where parties raise alternative pleadings, and the jury finds for one party in general verdict, there are alternative judgments. Courts are split on whether such judgments are preclusive. Some jurisdictions hold that any issue resolved is preclusive, while others reject preclusion entirely in such cases. Alternatively, others may find both judgments to be preclusive if the court carefully addressed each issue.
Issue preclusion has traditionally required mutuality, meaning only parties to the original case (or their privies) could be bound. However, the U.S. Supreme Court in Taylor v. Sturgell, 553 U.S. 880 (2008), identified six exceptions where nonparties may also be bound, thereby expanding the doctrine’s reach.
[Last reviewed in August of 2025 by the Wex Definitions Team]
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