Potter v. Pierce

OPINION

DANIELS, Justice.

Res judicata is a judicially created doctrine designed to promote efficiency and finality by giving a litigant only one full and fair opportunity to litigate a claim and by precluding any later claim that could have, and should have, been brought as part of the earlier proceeding. In this case, we examine the preclusive effect of a fee proceeding in bankruptcy court on a later lawsuit for legal malpractice allegedly committed in the course of the bankruptcy. We hold that the elements of res judicata are met and that Petitioner was sufficiently aware of his malpractice…