Legal Definitions - judicial estoppel

Judicial estoppel is a legal concept that prevents a party from taking a position in a legal proceeding that contradicts a position they took in a previous legal proceeding. This is to prevent a party from manipulating the legal system by changing their position to gain an advantage in a case.

For example, if a person files for bankruptcy and fails to disclose all of their assets, they cannot later sue someone for damages related to those assets. This is because they took a position in the bankruptcy proceeding that they did not have those assets, and they cannot now take a position that they do have those assets in a different legal proceeding.

Another example is if a person testifies in a criminal trial that they did not witness a crime, they cannot later sue someone for damages related to that crime by claiming they did witness it. This is because they took a position in the criminal trial that they did not witness the crime, and they cannot now take a position that they did witness it in a different legal proceeding.