Has it already been settled?

Black's dictionary defines RES JUDICATA:

res judicata: [Latin: "a thing adjuducated"]
1. An issue that has been definitively settled by judicial decision.
2. An affirmative defense barring the same parties from litigating a second lawsuit on the same claim, or any other claim arising from the same transaction or series of transactions and that could have been - but was not - raised in the first suit.

The three essential elements are:
(1) an earlier decision on the issue;
(2) a final judgment on the merits; and
(3) the involvement of the same parties.

So, when can a party raise the same or similar issue? Hmmmmmm.
From that definition, it seems that there are very few opportunities.