XVII. Preclusion Defenses

• Library: Sword and Shield: A Practical Approach to Section 1983 Litigation (ABA) (2015 Ed.)

XVII. PRECLUSION DEFENSES

Under the full faith and credit statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1738, federal courts in § 1983 actions must give state court judgments the same preclusive effect they would receive in state court under state law.³⁸⁶ This principle controls so long as the federal litigant against whom preclusion is asserted had a full and fair opportunity to litigate her federal claims in state court. A full and fair opportunity to be heard requires only that state judicial procedures meet minimal procedural due process requirements.³⁸⁷

The full faith and credit statute governs even with respect to federal claims asserted by involuntary state court litigants, like criminal defendants,³⁸⁸ and takings claimants who were required by ripeness requirements to pursue a state court just-compensation remedy.³⁸⁹ The full faith and credit statute governs even if the federal court § 1983 claimant has no alternative federal court remedy, as when a Fourth Amendment claim is not assertable in a federal habeas corpus proceeding under Stone v. Powell.³⁹⁰ And the full faith and credit statute applies even as to claims that could have been, but were not, litigated in the state court proceeding, if state preclusion law encompasses the doctrine of claim preclusion.³⁹¹

A. Administrative Res Judicata

Although § 1983 plaintiffs are not required to exhaust state administrative remedies...