Claim preclusion: Court rules no splitting of federal and state claims

Federal Courts

By Jay S. Judge

Jay S. Judge, a name partner of Judge, James & Kujawa LLC in Park Ridge, is a defense attorney who specializes in trials, appeals and insurance coverage. Judge graduated with honors from The John Marshall Law School and served as editor-in-chief of the school’s law review.

Posted March 4, 2014 2:31 PM

Today’s 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals case addresses the doctrine of claim preclusion, which holds a judgment on the merits bars any subsequent action between the parties for the same cause of action on all matters actually decided and all matters which could have been decided.Walczak v. Chicago Board of Education, 739 F.3d 1013 (7th Cir. 2014) presents the question of whether a teacher who was fired and filed suit in state court for judicial review was obliged to also bring her age discrimination (ADEA) later …

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