Brief Fact Summary. McCurry was arrested and charged under state law with possession of heroin. He sought to have evidence excluded in the state criminal proceedings under the Fourth Amendment unreasonable search and seizure provisions. He lost on this issue, but after he was convicted, McCurry attempted to bring this federal civil rights action against the police officers conducting the search.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. Collateral estoppel does not apply where the party against whom an earlier court decision is asserted did not have a full and fair opportunity to litigate the claim or issue decided by the first court.
Nothing in the language or legislative history of 1983 proves any congressional intent to deny binding effect to a state-court judgment or decision when the state court, acting within its proper jurisdiction, has given the parties a full and fair opportunity to litigate federal claims, and thereby has shown itself willing and able to protect federal rights.
View Full Point of LawIssue. Did the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit properly permit McCurry to relitigate his federal claim in federal court even though it had already been litigated in state court?
Held. No. The doctrine of collateral estoppel prevents the relitigation of an issue that has already been decided in an earlier proceeding. However, collateral estoppel does not apply unless the party against whom the earlier decision was rendered had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the claim or issue decided by the first court. The United States Supreme Court, in the present case, rejected the notion that one has the unencumbered right to have a federal court hear a federal claim regardless of whether the claim has already been litigated in state court. Hence, since McCurry’s Fourth Amendment claim was already fully and fairly litigated, yet unsuccessfully asserted, in the state court proceedings, his claim was barred from assertion in the federal courts.
Dissent. Justice Blackmun, with whom Justices Brennan and Marshall join, dissents. McCurry’s claim should not be precluded. When 42 U.S.C. Section: 1983 was passed, collateral estoppel did not exist. Further, since the issue was first decided in a criminal proceeding, civil litigation should not be barred. The process of deciding whether to admit or exclude evidence in a criminal proceeding is not the equivalent of a federal civil rights proceeding. Therefore, McCurry should be permitted to pursue his claim.
Discussion. Collateral estoppel may act to bar federal civil claims that have already been decided in state criminal proceedings provided that the party against whom the issue was decided had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the claim in the first proceeding.