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collateral estoppel

Collateral estoppel, also called issue preclusion , is a doctrine in criminal law and civil procedure that prevents a party from re-litigating an issue of fact or law that has already been validly, finally, and necessarily determined in a prior proceeding .

In criminal law, it applies through the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment , and under Benton v. Maryland (1969) , binds both federal and state prosecutions via the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause .

In civil procedure, it is a form of res judicata that bars re-litigation of essential issues decided on the merits in a previous case. It includes defensive use (by a defendant to block a plaintiff from re-litigating an issue) and offensive use (by a plaintiff to block a defendant), with courts having discretion over non-mutual offensive use as outlined in Parklane Hosiery Co. v. Shore (1979) .

[Last reviewed in August of 2025 by the Wex Definitions Team
] 

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