Opinion ID: 1316495
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The New York Law of Res Judicata and Collateral Estoppel

Text: Under New York law, the essential elements of collateral estoppel, or issue preclusion, are: [f]irst, the identical issue necessarily must have been decided in the prior action and be decisive of the present action, and second, the party to be precluded from relitigating the issue must have had a full and fair opportunity to contest the prior determination. Juan C. v. Cortines, 89 N.Y.2d 659, 667, 679 N.E.2d 1061, 1065, 657 N.Y.S.2d 581, 585 (1997) (citation omitted). Res judicata, or claim preclusion, on the other hand, involves the question of whether a plaintiff's present claim, as distinguished from discrete issues previously litigated, has been extinguished by a final adjudication in a prior proceeding in which the parties, or those in privity with them, were the same as in the action presently before the court. Kret by Kret v. Brookdale Hosp. Medical Center, 93 A.D.2d 449, 454, 462 N.Y.S.2d 896, 899 (1983), aff'd, Kret v. Brookdale Hosp. Medical Center, 61 N.Y.2d 861, 462 N.E.2d 147, 473 N.Y.S.2d 970 (1984). Concerning the distinction between res judicata and collateral estoppel, it has been stated: Collateral estoppel is a narrower application of res judicata. Where a second lawsuit between the same parties, or those who stand in their place, involves a different cause of action, the judgment in the first action estops relitigation of only those matters that were litigated and the subject of a final determination or verdict. In other words, the effect of the prior judgment is limited to specific issues in the second action and does not dispose of the entire suit. United States v. Seaboard Surety Co., 622 F.Supp. 882, 885 (D.C.N.Y.1985).