Furthermore, they assert that Theobald is entitled to absolute immunity for the performance of her official duties as the deputy chancery clerk of Lafayette County, Mississippi. The court agrees. The doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel deal with the question of whether the adjudication of certain matters is precluded by a prior adjudication. See Kremer v. Chemical Constr. Under the doctrine of res judicata, parties and their privies are precluded from relitigating claims that were or should have been raised in a prior action and have reached a final judgment on the merits.
Collateral estoppel is a derivative of res judicata with a more narrow focus.
While res judicata encompasses questions which might have been litigated, collateral estoppel applies only to questions actually litigated in a prior suit. Once a court has decided an issue essential to its judgment, collateral estoppel precludes the issue from being relitigated in another suit on a different cause of action involving a party to the first cause. The doctrine has the effect of establishing conclusively questions of law or fact that have received a final judgment for the purposes of a later suit. In addition to protecting litigants from the burden of relitigation, collateral estoppel serves the purpose of promoting judicial economy. State Farm Mut.