Illinois Supreme Court
Civil Court
Res Judicata
A party claiming res judicata bears the burden of showing that res judicata applies, and thus has a duty to clarify the record so as to clearly demonstrate their entitlement to application of res judicata. A party cannot use oral pronouncements of the court which are ambiguous indicators of the court's intent to explain otherwise unambiguous written orders. (KILBRIDE, FREEMAN, THOMAS, GARMAN, BURKE, and THEIS, concurring.)