Opinion ID: 1194975
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the walters' declaratory relief action is barred by claim preclusion (res judicata).

Text: The Walters assert that the trial court should not have dismissed their declaratory relief action on the ground that it was barred by claim preclusion (res judicata). We disagree. [A] valid and final judgment rendered in an action extinguishes all claims arising out of the same transaction or series of transactions out of which the cause of action arose. Diamond v. Farmers Group, Inc., 119 Idaho 146, 150, 804 P.2d 319, 323 (1990). In Walters I, this Court ruled that the trial court should dismiss the Walters' claims against the defendants. This dismissal constituted a valid and final judgment of the claims between the Walters and the defendants. The Walters' constitutional claims that are the subject of their declaratory judgment action arise out of the same transaction the worker's compensation claimas the claims made in Walters I. In filing the declaratory relief action, the Walters were simply attempting to raise a new legal theory to seek a remedy for acts arising out of this transaction. Claim preclusion (res judicata) bars this attempt. We reject the Walters' contention that they were not required to raise their constitutional claims until this Court's decision in Van Tine v. Idaho State Insurance Fund, 126 Idaho 688, 889 P.2d 717 (1994). Walters was put on notice of the necessity to raise the constitutional claims when the defendants moved to dismiss in Walters I based on the exclusive jurisdiction of the Industrial Commission over the claims Walters raised. Magic Valley Radiology, P.A. v. Kolouch, 123 Idaho 434, 439, 849 P.2d 107, 112 (1993) (holding that since the second lawsuit involved the same underlying transaction as the first lawsuit and since plaintiff had been put on notice of a potential claim that could have been raised in that first lawsuit, plaintiff is barred from raising it in the second lawsuit). Once on notice of the grounds for the defendants' requested dismissal, the Walters had an opportunity to raise their constitutional claims in Walters I.