Rule 2127.Actions by Partnerships and Liquidators.

A partnership with a right of action sues through its partners. It prosecutes the claim in the names of the then partners trading in the firm name, in the form “A, B and C trading as X & Co.” The partners are those Rule 2126 counts: general partners, and limited partners who have become subject to a general partner’s liability. An action by the liquidator of a dissolved partnership is brought in the liquidator’s name, as “A, Liquidator of A, B, and C, late trading as X & Co.”

If the partnership doesn’t follow subdivision (a), the defendant loses nothing on costs: it may still recover costs from both the partnership and the individual partners.

The naming rule runs one way only. Under Rule 2128, a partnership may be sued either through its partners or in its firm name alone, and the Official Note points to Rule 2128(b) for the setoffs, counterclaims and cross-actions a partnership sued in its firm name may bring in that name.