Defendant's argument that plaintiff is precluded from relitigating this issue under the doctrine of the law of the case is meritless, for we did not address the issue of whether plaintiff's notice was untimely in our previous order, and it is axiomatic that "merely presenting an issue to an appellate court does not foreclose relitigating questions of fact and matters concerning the merits of the controversy which the appellate court did not decide." People ex rel. La Salle National Bank v. Hoffman Estates Park District (1992), 236 Ill. App.3d 569, 572, 603 N.E.2d 836, 838, appeal denied (1993), 148 Ill.2d 653, 610 N.E.2d 1275. III