Does a final, court approved settlement preclude class members from seeking the same relief for the same claims a second time?

It is axiomatic that final, court-approved settlements preclude class members from seeking the same relief for the same claims a second time. A fundamental precept of common-law adjudication, embodied in the related doctrines of collateral estoppel and res judicata, is that a right, question or fact distinctly put in issue and directly determined by a court of competent jurisdiction ... cannot be disputed in a subsequent suit between the same parties or their privies.... Montana v. United States, 440 U.S. 147, 153, 99 S.Ct. 970, 59 L.Ed.2d 210 (1979) (internal quotation marks omitted). Absent such a guarantee, defendants would have

[771 F.3d 1181]