The Matter of the Estate of Jane Grisson 2007-1804/C  (reported in the NY Law Journal at p. 17 on May 6), Surrogate Peter J Kelly applied the doctrine of res judicata to block the attempt of a fiduciary from revisiting a real estate dispute which had been litigated in the Supreme Court in 2007. Res judicata provides that once a matter has been adjudicated by any court of competent jurisdiction, it cannot be the subject of a new action. The basic idea here is that you only get one bite at the apple and cannot run to a new court for a new hearing in front of a new judge. Surrogate Kelly makes the point that even if the first court’s decision was erroneous, that incorrect result is binding for all time absent a successful appeal which was obviously not taken here.