§ 25-322.Substitution of parties; death; disability; transfer of interest.

A lawsuit can take years to resolve, and the parties who started it are not guaranteed to remain the same people throughout. Section 25-322 keeps a case alive through those changes. It states plainly that an action does not abate — does not come to a stop — because a party dies or becomes otherwise disabled, or because a party transfers away their interest in the subject of the suit while it is pending, as long as the underlying cause of action survives or continues to exist.

The statute then gives the court a path forward for each situation. When a party dies or becomes disabled, the court may allow the case to continue by or against that party’s representative or successor in interest — an executor stepping in for a deceased plaintiff, for instance. When a party transfers their interest to someone else during the case, the court has two options: let the case continue in the name of the original party, or allow the transferee to be substituted in as the new party.

This flexibility protects both sides. A defendant does not get a free pass because a plaintiff died before trial, and a plaintiff’s claim does not evaporate because the party sued transferred the disputed property to someone else. The court decides, on the facts of the case, whether and how substitution should happen.