Res Judicata

Also known as claim preclusion, res jusdicata, in essence, is the legal principle that someone who goes to court should only have one bite of the apple. A legal principle that prohibits another lawsuit for the same cause of action (i.e., the same incident, transaction, or occurrence) that a judge has already made a final determination on. While quite similar to and arguably encompassing collateral estoppel, res judicata is a bar to all claims that were or could have been brought; while collateral estoppel is limited to issues that were actually brought (i.e., in res judicata, you had the chance to bite the apple; in collateral estoppel, you actually attempted to bite the apple). Additionally, there are different standards for res judicata and collateral estoppel.