Affirmative Defenses -- could the one about "res judicata" apply if the accused was not personally named in previous courts' decisions? (e.g., a plethora of other courts at different levels and in different states have all ruled on the same matter, all coming to the same conclusion, so there is no point in re-hashing)

Bump.

Res judicata applies when "within the same proceedings" and with regard to the same facts and law, the court has previously entered judgment. The Latin phrase means (as you will see by clicking "R" at the top of each of our site's pages, that the thing (res) has been adjudged (judicata) already and so will not be reviewed again.