Rule 14.Third-party practice.

Rule 14(a) lets a defendant serve a summons and third-party complaint on someone not already a party who is or may be liable to the defendant for all or part of the plaintiff’s claim. No leave of court is needed if the third-party complaint is filed within 45 days after the answer is served; after that, the defendant must obtain leave on motion, with notice to all parties. The third-party defendant answers under Rule 12 and may counterclaim against the third-party plaintiff or crossclaim against other third-party defendants under Rule 13, and may raise any defense the third-party plaintiff has against the original plaintiff. A third-party defendant may also assert a claim directly against the plaintiff arising from the same transaction or occurrence, and the plaintiff may likewise assert a claim directly against the third-party defendant on that same transaction or occurrence — at which point the third-party defendant responds to the plaintiff’s claim the same way an original defendant would. Any party may move to sever, obtain a separate trial of, or dismiss the third-party claim, and a third-party defendant may itself bring in a further third party under the same procedure.

Rule 14(b) extends the same right to a plaintiff who faces a counterclaim: the plaintiff may bring in a third party under the same circumstances that would let a defendant do so. Rule 14(c) makes the State of North Carolina available as a third-party defendant in tort actions notwithstanding the Tort Claims Act, applying the same liability rules and limits the Tort Claims Act would otherwise impose. Rule 14 also lets the court, on a defendant’s motion in certain contract or promissory-note actions where the statute of limitations period is extended, add additional defendants — a subrogee, assignee, third-party beneficiary, endorsee, agent, transferee, or anyone else who received the benefit of the contract by a transfer of interest.