JOINDER AND IMPLEADER

in law, processes whereby third parties are brought into suits because their participation is necessary or desirable for the successful adjudication of the issues. Impleading occurs when a third party against whom the defendant may himself have a claim is brought into the original suit in the interests of time and efficiency. Joinder of suit occurs when two or more issues are dispensed within the same hearing. Impleading is a procedural device. Any defendant who claims that a third party may have a portion (or more) of the liability claimed by the plaintiff has the right to bring that third party into the suit. By the same token, the same right is available to a plaintiff against whom a defendant (or defendants in third-party suits) may have filed a counterclaim. The courts have tended to favour such causes of action in the interest of time and costs saved. Joinder may be mandatory in some instances. Compulsory joinder requires the uniting of a person who must be made a party with others in a suit because his participation is necessary for a just adjudication of the matter. A plaintiff bringing several claims on a related subject must follow the procedure of joinder or risk having those several suits barred from a hearing on the ground that they constitute a multiplicity of suits. A similar procedure is available for defendants, as compulsory counterclaims must also be raised in such a case situation. Permissive joinder is the uniting of several persons, under certain instances, as either defendant or plaintiff, if their claims or liabilities arise out of the same occurrence or transaction or series of such. Joinder and impleading, as procedural devices, are both required, in certain situations, in the interest of saving time and money in the pursuit of a just verdict, and are also considered a desirable right on the part of those who would certainly benefit from these procedures.