Rule

Rule 14

• Under Rule 14(a), a defendant may assert a claim against anyone not a party to the original action if that third party’s liability is in some way dependent upon the outcome of the original action.

  • Even though it may arise out of the same general set of facts as the main claim, a third party claim will not be permitted when it is based upon a separate and independent claim. Rather, the third party liability must in some way be derivative of the original claim; a third party may be impleaded only when the original defendant is trying to pass all or part of the liability onto that third party.