- 40 - (1988), affd. 904 F.2d 525 (9th Cir. 1990). For collateral estoppel to apply in a factual context, the following conditions must be met: (1) The issue in the second suit must be identical in all respects with the one decided in the first suit; (2) there must be a final judgment rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction; (3) collateral estoppel may be invoked against parties and their privies to the prior judgment; (4) the parties must have actually litigated the issues and the resolution of these issues must have been essential to the prior decision; and (5) the controlling facts and applicable legal rules must remain unchanged. Peck v. Commissioner, supra at 166-167. The Supreme Court has broadened the scope of collateral estoppel beyond its common-law limits by abandoning the requirement of mutuality of the parties, and has conditionally approved the “offensive” use of collateral estoppel by a plaintiff who was not a party to the prior lawsuit. See Parklane Hosiery Co. v. Shore, 439 U.S. 322, 331 (1979). However, offensive use of collateral estoppel only applies when a plaintiff seeks to foreclose a defendant from relitigating an issue the defendant previously litigated unsuccessfully in another action against the same or a different party. Id. at 326 n.4. Further, the Supreme Court subsequently held that nonmutual offensive collateral estoppel could not be applied to precludePage: Previous 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 Next
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