What are the limits on the right of a plaintiff or defendant in a personal injury action?

"The dignity and seriousness of the judicial process, and the necessity of preventing any harassment of litigants, require that reasonable restrictions be placed on the right to submit any one controversy between specific parties to our courts of justice. A party plaintiff or defendant is entitled to [212 Cal.App.3d 870] his day in court; if he raises a question as to the respective rights of another person and himself he deserves, and will get, his answer; but once having secured a final determination of his right, he cannot again ask the court to redecide the same question on its merits." (Lunsford v. Kosanke (1956) 140 Cal.App.2d 623, 627, 295 P.2d 432.)