Rule 52.05.Who may Join as Plaintiff and Defendant--Protective Orders, When.

Rule 52.05 permits — it does not require — multiple parties to be combined in a single case. Plaintiffs may join together if they assert any right to relief jointly, severally, or in the alternative, arising out of the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences, and if a common question of law or fact will arise among them. The same standard applies to joining multiple defendants. No plaintiff or defendant needs to be interested in every item of relief sought; the court gives judgment for each plaintiff according to that plaintiff's own rights, and against each defendant according to that defendant's own liability.

Because permissive joinder can sweep in parties whose connection to the case is thinner than others', Rule 52.05(b) gives the court tools to manage the resulting case: it may enter orders preventing a party from being embarrassed, delayed, or put to needless expense by being joined alongside someone against whom that party asserts no claim and who asserts no claim against them, and it may order separate trials or other measures to prevent delay or prejudice.

The rule serves a practical purpose. Where several people were hurt in the same accident, or several defendants contributed to the same harm, permissive joinder lets one lawsuit resolve the shared questions instead of forcing repeat trials over the same facts, while the court's power to sever or separately try claims keeps that efficiency from turning into unfairness for any one party.