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Collateral estoppel

The doctrine of collateral estoppel, a common law legacy codified by Ashe v. Swenson 397 U.S. 436 (1970), protects criminal defendants from being tried for the same issue in more than one criminal trial. In Ashe v. Swenson, the Court ruled that the aegis of the Fifth Amendment's protections against double jeopardy are enforceable in state as well as federal court through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as established by Benton v. Maryland 395 U.S. 784. This decision relies on the application of the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution.

As a subgenre of res judicata, collateral estoppel prevents subsequent litigation of legal determinations of fact and law that have resulted in valid final judgments. All litigants have a "full and fair" opportunity to bring suit except where one party has brought effectively the same suit as defined by the same substantive legal issue in another venue or at another time against the same defendant.

See also San Remo Hotel v. San Francisco 545 U.S. 323 (2005).

Definition from Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary

A legal doctrine that says that a judgment in one case prevents (estops) a party to that suit from trying to litigate the same issue in another legal action. Also called issue preclusion.

Definition provided by Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary.

August 19, 2010, 5:12 pm