§ 2018.Joinder of Claims and Remedies

This section removes old restrictions on stacking claims together. A party asserting a claim, original, counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party, may join as many claims, legal or equitable, independent or alternative, as it has against an opposing party. It also handles claims that historically had to wait their turn: where one claim could only be brought after another had already been resolved, both may now be joined in a single suit, with relief granted according to the parties' actual substantive rights. The section gives a concrete example: a plaintiff can sue for money owed and, in the same action, ask to set aside a fraudulent conveyance, without first getting a judgment on the debt.

Beyond a single case, subsection C lets a court consolidate or jointly try separate actions that share a common question of law or fact, managing them to avoid needless cost or delay. And within any case, subsection D gives the court discretion to order separate trials of any claim, cross-claim, counterclaim, third-party claim, or issue, for convenience, to avoid prejudice, or for efficiency, while always preserving the right to a jury trial.