Whitacre Partnership v. Biosignia2/6/2004
me parties or their privies. State ex rel. Tucker v. Frinzi, 344 N.C. 411, 413, 474 S.E.2d 127, 128 (1996); Hales v. North Carolina Ins. Guar. Ass'n, 337 N.C. 329, 333, 445 S.E.2d 590, 594 (1994). The doctrine prevents the relitigation of "all matters . . . that were or should have been adjudicated in the prior action." McInnis, 318 N.C. at 428, 349 S.E.2d at 556. Under the companion doctrine of collateral estoppel, also known as "estoppel by judgment" or "issue preclusion," the determination of an issue in a prior judicial or administrative proceeding precludes the relitigation of that issue in a later action, provided the party against whom the estoppel is asserted enjoyed a full and fair opportunity to litigate that issue in the earlier proceeding. McInnis, 318 N.C. at 433-34, 349 S.E.2d at 560; Bradley v. Hidden Valley Transp., Inc., 148 N.C. App. 163, 166, 557 S.E.2d 610, 613 (2001), aff'd per curiam, 355 N.C. 485, 562 S.E.2d 422 (2002). Whereas res judicata estops a party or its privy from bringing a subsequent action based on the "same claim" as that litigated in an earlier action, collateral estoppel precludes the subsequent adjudication of a previously determined issue, even if the subsequent action is based on an entirely different claim. Hales, 337 N.C. at 333, 445 S.E.2d at 594. The two doctrines are complementary in that each may apply in situations where the other would not and both advance the twin policy goals of "protecting litigants from the burden of relitigating previously decided matters and promoting judicial economy by preventing needless litigation." Bockweg, 333 N.C. at 491, 428 S.E.2d at 161.
Many authorities have noted that judicial estoppel is "closely related" to collateral estoppel, although "dissimilar in critical respects." Allen v. Zurich Ins. Co., 667 F.2d 1162, 1166 (4th Cir. 1982); see also 18 James Wm. Moore et al., Moore's Federal Practice § 134.30, at 134-69 (3d ed. 1997) (stating that the doctrines are "similar" but have "substantial differences"). The doctrines are similar not just in their preclusive effect, but also in their shared requirement of an identity of issues. Just as a party may not be collaterally estopped to argue an issue unless that same issue has been litigated and determined in a prior action, Summers, 351 N.C. at 623, 528 S.E.2d at 20, a party may not be judicially estopped to assert "inconsistent positions with respect to issues that are only superficially similar." 18 James Wm. Moore et al., Moore's Federal Practice § 134.30, at 134-69 (3d ed. 1997). The doctrines are distinguishable, on the other hand, in three principle respects. First, judicial estoppel seeks to protect the integrity of the judicial process itself, whereas collateral estoppel and res judicata seek to protect the rights and interests of the parties to an action. Rand G. Boyers, Comment, Precluding Inconsistent Statements: The Doctrine of Judicial Estoppel, 80 Nw. U.L. Rev. 1244, 1248 (1986). Second, unlike collateral estoppel, judicial estoppel has no requirement that an issue have been actually litigated in a prior proceeding. See Lowery v. Stovall, 92 F.3d 219, 223 n.3 (4th Cir. 1996), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 1113, 136 L.Ed. 2d 841 (1997). Third, unlike collateral estoppel, judicial estoppel has no requirement of "mutuality" of the parties in either its offensive or defensive applications. Id. at 223 n.3; see also Sartain v. Dixie Coal & Iron Co., 150 Tenn. 633, 650, 266 S.W. 313, 317 (1924) (judicial estoppel has no mutuality requirement because the doctrine "has nothing to do with other parties to the suit"). Because of these distinctions, judicial estoppel may apply in situations where collateral estoppel would not. Zurich Ins. Co., 667 F.2d at 1166-67. Thus, although the doctri
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