§ 9-11-14.Third-party practice

Sometimes the person who ought to answer for a plaintiff’s loss isn’t the person the plaintiff sued. This section lets a defendant — acting as a third-party plaintiff — pull that other person into the case by serving a summons and third-party complaint on anyone who is or may be liable for all or part of what the plaintiff is claiming. No leave of court is needed if the third-party complaint goes out within ten days after the defendant serves its own original answer; after that window, the third-party plaintiff needs leave on motion with notice to everyone already in the case.

Once served, the third-party defendant answers the third-party plaintiff’s claim under the same defense rules that apply to any defendant under Code Section 9-11-12, and can assert counterclaims against the third-party plaintiff and cross-claims against other third-party defendants under Code Section 9-11-13. The third-party defendant can also raise, against the original plaintiff, any defense the third-party plaintiff has to the plaintiff’s claim, and can bring its own claim against the plaintiff if it arises from the same transaction or occurrence underlying the plaintiff’s claim against the third-party plaintiff. The plaintiff, in turn, may assert a claim directly against the third-party defendant from that same transaction or occurrence, which then triggers the third-party defendant’s own defense and counterclaim obligations. Any party can move to strike the third-party claim or ask for its severance or a separate trial, and a third-party defendant facing this posture can implead still another party under the same rules — the chain doesn’t stop at one link.

Subsection (b) extends the same impleader right to a plaintiff facing a counterclaim, letting the plaintiff bring in a third party under the same circumstances that would let a defendant do so. Subsection (c) adds a paperwork requirement: any third-party complaint has to attach, as exhibits, a true and correct copy of the original complaint and every other pleading filed in the case before the third-party complaint came along, so the newly added party starts with the full picture.