§ 369.Persons Allowed to Sue Without Joining Persons For Whose Benefit Action Prosecuted
Title 3. Of the Parties to Civil Actions · Chapter 1. General Provisions · Last amended 1993 · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 369 lists who may sue without joining the person benefited by the claim -- personal representatives, trustees of express trusts, contracting agents, and anyone else a statute authorizes -- while separately preserving a deed-of-trust trustee's own right to sue under its power of sale.
(a)The following persons may sue without joining as parties the persons for whose benefit the action is prosecuted:
(1)A personal representative, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 58 of the Probate Code.
(2)A trustee of an express trust.
(3)Except for a person upon whom a power of sale has been conferred pursuant to a deed of trust or mortgage, a person with whom, or in whose name, a contract is made for the benefit of another.
(4)Any other person expressly authorized by statute.
(b)Notwithstanding subdivision (a), a trustee upon whom a power of sale has been conferred pursuant to a deed of trust or mortgage may sue to exercise the trustee's powers and duties pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 2920) of Title 14 of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code.
Plain-English Summary
Section 369 is the statutory counterweight to the real-party-in-interest rule in § 367. It names categories of people who may bring a lawsuit in their own name even though someone else stands to benefit from the outcome: a personal representative of an estate, a trustee of an express trust, and a person with whom, or in whose name, a contract was made for another's benefit.
Subdivision (b) draws a line around one of those categories. A trustee who has been given a power of sale under a deed of trust or mortgage is treated differently -- that trustee does not sue under the general contracting-agent category in subdivision (a), but instead sues to exercise the specific powers and duties given by the deed of trust or mortgage foreclosure statutes in the Civil Code.
Read together with § 367, this section confirms that requiring suit by the real party in interest is a default, not an absolute rule -- the Legislature has already carved out several familiar representative relationships where the named plaintiff acts for someone else's benefit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a trustee sue on behalf of the trust's beneficiaries without joining them?
Yes. Section 369(a)(2) allows a trustee of an express trust to sue without joining the beneficiaries for whose benefit the action is prosecuted.
Does a deed-of-trust trustee sue under this same general rule?
Not quite. Subdivision (b) treats a trustee with a power of sale under a deed of trust or mortgage separately, allowing that trustee to sue to exercise its powers and duties under the Civil Code's foreclosure provisions rather than under the general contracting-agent category.
Who else can sue without joining the person benefited by the case?
A personal representative of an estate, a person with whom a contract was made for another's benefit, and anyone else expressly authorized by statute can sue without joining that other person, under § 369(a).
Amendment History
Amended by Stats. 1992, Ch. 178, Sec. 12. Effective January 1, 1993.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 28, 2026.
· Official source
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