Thomas Kopp v. Physician Group of Arizona, Inc., Melissa Ornelas v. Physician Group of Arizona, Inc., Maria Judith…

Summary

The court held that a stipulated dismissal with prejudice of a surgeon does not preclude independent-negligence claims against the surgeon's principal, even when proving those claims requires evidence of the surgeon's negligence. Because the surgeon's negligence was neither actually litigated nor made conclusively established by the settlement, issue preclusion did not bar the claims. The court vacated the appellate decision, reversed the trial court's dismissal, and remanded for further proceedings.