Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Niziolek

In this action, brought by Aetna Casualty and Surety Company (Aetna) against Joseph Niziolek and Ray mond Bednarz to recover money paid by Aetna to Niziolek on a fire insurance policy on a house owned by Niziolek, we hold that: (1) Aetna may invoke the doctrine of collateral estoppel to preclude Niziolek from relitigating issues decided in the criminal trial in which he was convicted of burning the insured property, and (2) Bednarz’s convictions of arson and of conspiracy to commit arson, entered after he pleaded guilty, have no preclusive effect in subsequent civil litigation, but they are…