Gonzalez v. AMR, American Airlines - 3d Circuit - November 26, 2008
http://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/065161p.pdf
A UC claimant lost a referee hearing and took no further appeal. He then sued under the state wrongful discharge statute, and the employer moved to dismiss on issue preclusion grounds.
There is a four-prong test for issue preclusion, including whether the issue determined in the prior action the same as that in the subsequent action.
In this case, there was no preclusive effect since, the issue in the UC case - willful misconduct - was not the same as the issues involved in the employee's cause of action under the state wrongful discharge statute.
