Cite as: 517 U. S. 793 (1996)
Opinion of the Court
('class' or 'representative' suits); Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 23 (same); Montana v. United States, 440 U. S. 147, 154-155 (1979) (control of litigation on behalf of one of the parties in the litigation). Additionally, where a special remedial scheme exists expressly foreclosing successive litigation by nonlitigants, as for example in bankruptcy or probate, legal proceedings may terminate pre-existing rights if the scheme is otherwise consistent with due process. See NLRB v. Bildisco & Bildisco, 465 U. S. 513, 529-530, n. 10 (1984) ('[P]roof of claim must be presented to the Bankruptcy Court . . . or be lost'); Tulsa Professional Collection Services, Inc. v. Pope, 485 U. S. 478 (1988) (nonclaim statute terminating unsubmitted claims against the estate)." 490 U. S., at 762, n. 2.
Here, the Alabama Supreme Court concluded that res judicata applied because petitioners were adequately represented in the Bedingfield action. 662 So. 2d, at 1130. We now consider the propriety of that determination.
III
We begin by noting that the parties to the Bedingfield case failed to provide petitioners with any notice that a suit was pending which would conclusively resolve their legal rights. That failure is troubling because, as we explained in Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U. S. 306 (1950), the right to be heard ensured by the guarantee of due process "has little reality or worth unless one is informed that the matter is pending and can choose for himself whether to appear or default, acquiesce or contest." Id., at 314; Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Shutts, 472 U. S. 797, 812 (1985); Schroeder v. City of New York, 371 U. S. 208, 212-213 (1962). Nevertheless, respondents ask us to excuse the lack of notice on the ground that petitioners, as the Alabama
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