Comes v. Microsoft Corp.

STREIT, Justice.

Justice Felix Frankfurter once observed, “to some lawyers, all facts are created equal.” However, for the purposes of collateral estoppel, they are not. The defendant, Microsoft Corporation, was granted permission to take an interlocutory appeal from the district court’s ruling that collateral estoppel would apply to 352 findings of fact arising from prior federal antitrust litigation. Because we find the district court’s application of the “necessary and essential” requirement of collateral estoppel was too broad, we reverse the district court’s order and remand with…