Rule 1.234.Necessary parties; joinder

Rule 1.234 works in three connected pieces. The first, labeled the remedy for nonjoinder as plaintiff, generally requires people who share a joint interest in an action to be joined on the same side. But it builds in an escape valve: if a person with that joint interest will not join as a plaintiff, they can instead be made a defendant. This provision does not apply to class actions under rules 1.261 to 1.279, and it does not affect the separate options Iowa Code sections 613.1 and 613.2 permit.

The second piece defines what makes a party indispensable. A party is indispensable under Rule 1.234 if their interest cannot be separated from the case and their absence would prevent the court from rendering any judgment between the parties already before it, or if, even without that party present, a judgment between the existing parties would necessarily affect that absent party's interest inequitably.

The third piece tells the court what to do when an indispensable party is missing. The court must order that party brought in. If the court can obtain jurisdiction over people who are not indispensable but should be parties for complete relief — through service of original notice in any manner the rules or a statute allow — it must order their names added and notice served. But if jurisdiction over an absent party can be had only through their consent or voluntary appearance, the court may still proceed and decide the case, though the resulting judgment will not affect that absent person's rights or liabilities.