804
Opinion of the Court
"We are not now concerned with the rights of the plaintiff on the merits, although it may be observed that the plaintiff's claim is one arising under the Federal Constitution and, consequently, one on which the opinion of the state court is not final . . . . Our present concern is solely with the question whether the plaintiff has been accorded due process in the primary sense,—whether it has had an opportunity to present its case and be heard in its support. . . . [W]hile it is for the state courts to determine the adjective as well as the substantive law of the State, they must, in so doing, accord the parties due process of law. Whether acting through its judiciary or through its legislature, a State may not deprive a person of all existing remedies for the enforcement of a right, which the State has no power to destroy, unless there is, or was, afforded to him some real opportunity to protect it." Id., at 681-682.
In any event, the Alabama Supreme Court did not hold here that petitioners' suit was of a kind that, under state law, could be brought only on behalf of the public at large. Cf. Corprew v. Tallapoosa County, 241 Ala. 492, 3 So. 2d 53 (1941) (discussing state statutory quo warranto proceedings). To conclude that the suit may nevertheless be barred by the prior action in Bedingfield would thus be to deprive petitioners of their "chose in action," which we have held to be a protected property interest in its own right. See Logan v. Zimmerman Brush Co., 455 U. S. 422, 429-430 (1982); Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Shutts, 472 U. S., at 812 (relying on Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U. S. 306 (1950)); Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U. S., at 37. Thus, we are not persuaded that the nature of petitioners' action permits us to deviate from the traditional rule that an extreme application of state-law res judicata principles violates the Federal Constitution.
Of course, we are aware that governmental and private entities have substantial interests in the prompt and deter-
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