Arbitration and res judicata

The use of an award in later arbitrations

The courts have grappled with the concept of res judicata (Latin for ‘judged matter’) for well over a century. Res judicata is really a species of estoppel, and falls into two broad categories: cause of action estoppel (a final and binding determination of a cause of action between two parties, preventing either from ever re-litigating the same action as against the other) and issue estoppel (ie when a party is estopped from contesting a matter previously in issue between the parties and decided as part of the court’s judgment or tribunal’s award). The question before the Court in Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada and others v The Lincoln National Life Insurance Co [2004] EWCA Civ 1660 concerned the precise extent of issue estoppel, and, in particular, whether and to what extent the findings of an arbitral tribunal in proceedings between two parties could be relied upon in subsequent proceedings between one of those parties and a stranger to the first arbitration. The case is discussed by Louis Flannery of Howes Percival.