Definitions for "Collateral estoppel"
The affirmative defense in litigation barring a party from relitigating an issue determined against the party in an earlier action, even where the second action differs significantly from the first one.
Prior judgment from a lawsuit between parties on a different cause of action that bars re-litigation of those matters in a subsequent lawsuit.
also sometimes known as issue preclusion, is a common law estoppel doctrine that prevents a person from relitigating an issue. Simply stated, when an issue of fact (as opposed to an issue of law) is decided by a fair and impartial arbiter (usually a jury), then the two parties may not relitigate that in the future. It may be offensive collateral estoppel when it is used by a plaintiff to prevent relitigation by a defendant who lost against another plaintiff on the same issue.