What is Res judicata (coisa julgada)?

Res judicata is the immutability of a merits decision from which no appeal remains (art. 502 of the CPC). With the final judgment, what was decided becomes definitive and indisputable, under constitutional protection (art. 5º, XXXVI). It is what gives the outcome legal certainty.

It is formed on merits decisions — a dismissal without prejudice, as a rule, does not produce it. A distinction is drawn between formal res judicata (preclusion within the case) and material res judicata (immutability projected beyond it).

How LABORIS AI uses it

LABORIS AI treats cases already covered by res judicata as settled outcomes — no longer as open risk — refining the likely liability and steering attention to what is still disputable.