What is the doctrine of collateral estoppel?

Collateral estoppel is a legal doctrine in Texas Civil Procedure which prevents a party from relitigating issues which have already been decided by a court. This prevents unnecessary and time consuming, expensive legal proceedings, as the court has already determined the outcome of an issue. Collateral estoppel is generally used when two or more parties are involved in litigation and the same issues are brought before the court in more than one case. The doctrine prevents a party from bringing up the same issue and arguments from the prior case, as the court has already resolved the issue. This saves the court from having to consider the same legal argument more than once. Another way the doctrine of collateral estoppel is used is when a party is trying to relitigate an issue which they lost in a previous case. The party is prevented from bringing the same legal claim or argument before the court in order to get a different outcome. In Texas, the doctrine of collateral estoppel can only be applied if the court finds that the party seeking to apply the doctrine had an opportunity to litigate the issue in a prior case, and that the party could reasonably have expected to be able to defend their position in front of the court. In addition, the legal issue which is being relitigated in the current case must be the same issue which was decided in the prior case.

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What is the doctrine of collateral estoppel?

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