Preclusion, Appeals and Post-Trial Motions: every key term you need (+ practice quiz)
25 flashcard terms for Civil Procedure Topic 8, written to match the course framework. Study them here, then drill them as interactive flashcards, or test yourself with the 15-question quiz — free, no account needed.
Res judicata bars relitigation of the same claim between the same parties after a valid final judgment on the merits, covering every ground for relief that could have been raised.
Transactional test for claims
The modern approach defines a claim by the underlying transaction or series of connected transactions, so a plaintiff who splits theories arising from one event loses the omitted ones.
Judgment on the merits
A judgment qualifies for preclusive effect if it resolved the substance of the dispute, and dismissals for failure to state a claim generally count while jurisdictional dismissals do not.
Same parties or privies
Preclusion binds the original litigants and those in privity, such as successors in interest, represented class members, and parties who controlled the earlier litigation.
Taylor v. Sturgell
The 2008 decision rejecting broad virtual representation and listing six narrow exceptions to the rule against binding nonparties to a judgment.
Issue preclusion
Collateral estoppel forecloses relitigation of an issue that was actually litigated, actually decided, essential to a valid final judgment, and fully and fairly contested by the party bound.
Actually litigated requirement
Issues resolved by default, consent, or stipulation are usually not precluded because the parties never contested them, unlike issues tried and decided on the evidence.
Essential to the judgment
A finding that did not affect the outcome is dictum for preclusion purposes, since the losing party had little incentive and no ability to appeal an unnecessary determination.
Mutuality of estoppel
The abandoned traditional requirement that only a party bound by the prior judgment could invoke it; modern law permits nonmutual use in most circumstances.
Defensive nonmutual issue preclusion
A new defendant uses a prior loss by the same plaintiff to block relitigation, an application courts accept readily because it encourages plaintiffs to join all defendants at once.
Offensive nonmutual issue preclusion
A new plaintiff uses a prior loss by the same defendant, which Parklane Hosiery permits subject to trial court discretion because it can encourage wait-and-see plaintiffs.
Parklane Hosiery Co. v. Shore
Courts should refuse offensive nonmutual estoppel where the plaintiff could easily have joined earlier, the defendant lacked incentive to litigate, or procedural opportunities now differ.
Full faith and credit in preclusion
A federal court must give a state judgment the preclusive effect that the rendering state's own courts would give it, under the statute implementing the constitutional command.
Final judgment rule
Under 28 U.S.C. 1291 appeals lie only from decisions ending the litigation on the merits and leaving nothing but execution, which limits piecemeal appellate review.
Collateral order doctrine
Cohen allows immediate appeal of orders that conclusively determine a disputed question, resolve an important issue separate from the merits, and are effectively unreviewable later.
Rule 54(b) certification
In multi-claim or multi-party cases the district court may direct entry of final judgment on fewer than all claims upon an express determination that there is no just reason for delay.
Section 1292(b) interlocutory appeal
A district judge may certify an order involving a controlling question of law with substantial ground for difference of opinion where immediate appeal may materially advance the litigation.
Section 1292(a)(1)
Orders granting, continuing, modifying, refusing, or dissolving injunctions are immediately appealable because the practical consequences cannot await final judgment.
Writ of mandamus
An extraordinary appellate remedy used to correct a clear abuse of judicial power, available only where there is no other adequate means to obtain the relief sought.
Rule 59 motion for new trial
Available for prejudicial error, newly discovered evidence, misconduct, or a verdict against the clear weight of the evidence, and it may be granted even where judgment as a matter of law is unavailable.
Remittitur
The practice of conditioning denial of a new trial on the plaintiff's acceptance of a reduced award, permitted in federal court in a way that additur is not.
Additur
Increasing an inadequate verdict as a condition on denying a new trial, held unconstitutional in federal court under the Seventh Amendment reexamination clause in Dimick v. Schiedt.
Rule 60(b) relief from judgment
Grounds include mistake, newly discovered evidence, fraud, a void judgment, satisfaction, or any other reason justifying relief, with strict time limits on the first three grounds.
Standards of appellate review
Questions of law are reviewed de novo, findings of fact for clear error in bench trials, jury findings only for legal sufficiency, and discretionary rulings for abuse of discretion.
Harmless error
Rule 61 directs courts to disregard errors that do not affect a party's substantial rights, so an appellant must show the ruling probably influenced the outcome.