Section 10-11.Impleading of Third Party by Defendant in Civil Action

Section 10-11 governs third-party practice, commonly called impleader. A defendant may move the court for permission to serve a writ, summons, and complaint on a person not already in the case who is or may be liable to that defendant for all or part of the plaintiff’s claim. The motion may be filed any time before trial, and the judicial authority grants it at its discretion if doing so will not unduly delay trial or work an injustice on the plaintiff or the person to be impleaded. Once served, the third-party defendant is treated like an original defendant: they can assert setoffs or counterclaims against the third-party plaintiff, file cross complaints against other third-party defendants, raise against the plaintiff any defenses the third-party plaintiff has, and assert their own claim against the plaintiff arising from the same transaction or occurrence.

The plaintiff, within twenty days after the third-party defendant appears, may assert a claim against that third-party defendant arising from the same transaction or occurrence as the original complaint, and the third-party defendant can defend against it with the same remedies available to an original defendant. A third-party defendant may in turn implead a further non-party under the same standard. When a counterclaim is asserted against a plaintiff, the plaintiff may bring in a third party under the same circumstances that would let a defendant do so. Finally, when a case with an impleaded third party reaches trial, the judicial authority may order separate trials of different parts of the action and make other orders to do justice and expedite the case.