Claim was not barred by issue preclusion doctrine where claimant filed a new petition alleging a cumulative injury after claimant was denied benefits in a prior arbitration decision based on a specific trauma injury claim. The record, including the transcript of the hearing before the deputy and all exhibits admitted into the record, has been reviewed de novo on appeal. That decision was not appealed and therefore became final. As a result claimant took nothing from that claim. A hearing was held, and a deputy workers' compensation commissioner ruled that claimant had not proved a work injury occurring on December 13, 1995.
Defendants assert on appeal that the claimant's current petition is barred by res judicata.
Res judicata can involve either claim preclusion, issue preclusion, or both. Res judicata as claim preclusion applies when a litigant has brought an action, an adjudication has occurred, and the litigant is thereafter foreclosed from further litigation on the claim. An adjudication in a former suit between the same parties on the same claim is final as to all matters which could have been presented to the court for determination. A party must litigate all matters growing out of its claim at one time rather than in separate actions. . . . The right to join related causes of action does not bar subsequent litigation of a distinct cause of action that was not joined.