Professor’s note: This table was created for CALI as part of my lesson The Basics of Supplemental Jurisdiction through the Ice-Cream Method. You can take the full lesson (with many hypos) here. You should find it helpful in analyzing section 1367(b). I’ve added links to the FRCP rules (and one statute).
Here is a brief explanation of the functions of the main joinder rules. You can refer back to this while going through the questions. This page is not intended to serve as a full lesson on joinder. In fact, CALI offers lessons on joinder, which you can find [click here for link(s)].
| Rule | What it is | What that means | Example |
| 13(a) | Compulsory counterclaim | A claim by a defending party against a claiming party that is required to be joined due to a common transaction or occurrence. | P sues D for negligence arising from an auto accident. D counterclaims for negligence in the same accident. |
| 13(b) | Permissive counterclaim | A claim by a defending party against a claiming party that is not required to be joined, typically due to a lack of a common transaction or occurrence. | P sues D for negligence arising from an auto accident. D counterclaims for breach of an unrelated contract for the sale of a house. |
| 13(g) | Crossclaim | A claim by an existing co-party against another existing co-party. There are additional requirements, the main one being a shared transaction or occurrence with the original claim or counterclaim. | P sues D1 and D2 for negligence arising from an auto accident. D1 crossclaims against D2 for negligence in the same accident. |
| 14 | Impleader (a/k/a third-party practice) | A device used by a defending party to bring in a new defending party (the “third-party defendant”), against whom the defendant party asserts a claim, typically in contribution or indemnification of the main claim. The party who files the third-party complaint is called a “third-party plaintiff.” | P sues D for negligence arising from an auto accident. D “impleads” the car repair shop that worked on her car, alleging that the car shop must provide indemnification or contribution to her if she is found liable to P. |
| 18 | Joinder of claims | Allows a party already asserting a proper claim, counterclaim, crossclaim, or third-party claim to “pile on” additional claims, even if unrelated. | P sues D for negligence arising from a car accident. P can pile on an unrelated claims such as breach of contract for sale of a guitar. |
| 19 | Required joinder of parties | Absent persons must be joined as parties (typically defendants, but sometimes as plaintiffs) if joinder if feasible and if certain conditions are met. The basic idea is that the absent person is a “VIP” and the litigation might not fairly continue if they are not joined. | Bob, a computer programmer, leaves Mallmart to go work for Barget. Mallmart files suit against Bob for trade secret misappropriation and seeks an injunction against Bob’s employment with Barget. Although Barget is not a party, its interest in employing Bob will be practically impaired if it is not joined as a defendant. |
| 20 | Permissive joinder of parties | Additional parties can be made plaintiffs or defendants so long as the claims: 1) share a common question or fact or law with an existing claim, and 2) arise from the same transaction, occurrence, or series of T-or-Os as an existing party’s claim. | There is a four-car accident. Driver 1 and Driver 2 join as plaintiffs to sue Driver 3 and Driver 4. |
| 22 (and 28 U.S.C. §1335) | Interpleader | Kind of like a quiet title. If a person (or party) faces multiple, competing claims for the same property, they can use interpleader to join all the claimants in one action and make them fight it out, so the judgment can bind all the competing claimants. | The seller of a house is angry at the buyer when the buyer refuses to close on the sale. The seller demands that the escrow agent give him the buyer’s “hand ” money, or deposit. However, the buyer also demands that the escrow agent return his “hand” money. Faced with competing claims for the same hand money, the escrow agent files an interpleader suit against buyer and seller, asking the court to determine who gets the hand money. |
| 23 | Class actions | Typically, a class representative sues on behalf of a class. The suit must define the class but need not name class members. | Betty, a mid-level manager at Mallmart, files suit as a class representative against Mallmart for gender discrimination of female Mallmart employees. |
| 24 | Intervention | An absent person wants to “crash the party ” and become a litigant to an existing lawsuit. | Archie files suit against the Riverdale Gas & Light Company, alleging that the defendant is polluting Riverdale. The EPA thinks that the issues are important and intervenes in the case. |
© 2018 CALI
Posted Sept. 11, 2018