Misjoinder of parties is not ground for dismissal of an action. Parties may be dropped or added by order of the court on motion of any party or of its own initiative at any stage of the action and on such terms as are just. Any claim against a party may be severed and proceeded with separately.
Rule 21.Misjoinder and Nonjoinder of Parties
Part IV: Parties · Last amended 1966 · Last verified July 16, 2026
In one sentenceRule 15-6-21 states that misjoinder of parties is never a ground for dismissing a case, lets the court add or drop parties on motion or on its own initiative at any stage on just terms, and allows a claim against one party to be severed and heard on its own.
Full Text of Rule 15-6-21
Plain-English Summary
Rule 15-6-21 keeps a lawsuit from unraveling over a mistake about who is or is not a party. Naming the wrong mix of parties does not doom the case. Instead, the court may add or drop parties by order, whether a party asks for it or the court raises the issue on its own, and it can do so at any point in the action, on whatever terms are just under the circumstances.
The rule also gives the court a tool for untangling a case that has grown unwieldy: any claim against a party may be severed and pursued as its own separate matter. That lets the court carve out one piece of a multi-party dispute rather than forcing every claim to travel together through trial.
Read together, these two sentences push a case toward resolution on the merits. A defect in the party lineup gets corrected along the way, not treated as a reason to start over.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a South Dakota case be dismissed because the wrong parties were named?
No. Rule 15-6-21 states directly that misjoinder of parties is not a ground for dismissal of an action.
Can a court add a party to a case without either side asking?
Yes. Rule 15-6-21 lets the court order parties added or dropped on motion of any party or on its own initiative.
At what point in a lawsuit can parties still be added or dropped?
At any stage of the action. Rule 15-6-21 does not limit this power to the pleading stage or any other single point in the case.
What terms apply when a court adds or removes a party?
Whatever terms are just. Rule 15-6-21 gives the court discretion to set conditions on such orders rather than imposing a fixed procedure.
Can one claim against a party be pulled out of a case and handled separately?
Yes. Rule 15-6-21 allows any claim against a party to be severed and proceeded with separately from the rest of the action.
Amendment History
—SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 33.0411; SD RCP, Rule 21, as adopted by Sup. Ct. Order March 29, 1966, effective July 1, 1966.
Source & verification. Rule text and History are
reproduced verbatim from the South Dakota Codified Laws, published by the
South Dakota Legislative Research Council. Last verified July 16, 2026.
· Official source
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