A legal doctrine which provides that, in some cases, the criminal conviction of perpetrators will be considered proof of those perpetrator's legal liability in civil actions brought by the perpetrator's victims.
Collateral estoppel, also sometimes known as issue preclusion, is a common law estoppel doctrine that prevents a person from relitigating an issue. Simply put, "once a court has decided an issue of fact or law necessary to its judgment, that decision ... preclude[s] relitigation of the issue in a suit on a different cause of action involving a party to the first case." San Remo Hotel v.