18.01 Joinder of Claims. A party asserting a claim to relief as an original claim, counterclaim, cross-claim, or third party claim, may join, either as independent or as alternate claims, as many claims, legal or equitable, in contract or tort, as the party has against an opposing party.
Rule 18.Joinder of Claims and Remedies
Last verified July 2, 2026
In one sentenceRule 18 lets a party asserting any claim join as many other legal or equitable claims against the same opposing party as it has, related or not, subject to the court’s power to order separate trials to prevent confusion or prejudice.
Full Text of Rule 18
18.02 Joinder of Remedies. Whenever a claim is one heretofore cognizable only after another claim has been prosecuted to a conclusion, the two (2) claims may be joined in a single action; but the court shall grant relief in that action only in accordance with the relative substantive rights of the parties. In particular, a plaintiff may state a claim for money and a claim to have set aside a fraudulent conveyance as to the plaintiff, without first having obtained a judgment establishing the claim for money. The plaintiff may state a claim for money and a claim to discover and subject to the satisfaction of the claim for money, the property of the defendant which cannot be reached by execution, without first having obtained a judgment establishing the claim for money.
Advisory Commission Comments
Plain-English Summary
Rule 18.01 lets a party asserting an original claim, counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party claim join with it any other claim — legal or equitable, in contract or tort — that it has against the same opposing party, whether the claims are related to one another or not. The rule rejects any requirement that joined claims share a common transaction or subject matter, and it allows the joinder of legal and equitable claims together because Tennessee’s rules provide one common procedure for both kinds of relief in circuit and chancery court alike.
Rule 18.01 governs only permissive joinder of claims between parties who are already properly in the case; it does not itself address joinder of parties, and it does not compel a party to join every claim it has — that question is instead governed by common-law preclusion principles that can bar splitting a single claim into separate lawsuits. Because the rule permits joinder of claims that share nothing but a common pair of litigants, the primary safeguard against confusion or prejudice from trying unrelated claims together is the court’s authority to order separate trials.
Rule 18.02 addresses a narrower situation: when one claim is traditionally recognized only after another claim has already been prosecuted to a conclusion, the two may still be joined in a single action, but the court grants relief on the second claim only once it becomes available under the same principles that would have applied had the claims been brought separately.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do the claims I join in a Tennessee lawsuit need to be related to each other?
No. Rule 18.01 allows a party to join any claims it has against the same opposing party, legal or equitable, whether or not they arise from the same transaction or share any subject matter.
Does Rule 18 require me to bring every claim I have in one lawsuit?
No. Rule 18.01 governs only permissive joinder — it lets claims be combined but does not require it. Whether failing to bring a claim bars it later is instead governed by common-law claim-preclusion principles.
What stops unrelated claims joined under Rule 18 from confusing a jury?
The trial court’s authority to order separate trials for convenience or to avoid prejudice, which functions as the main safeguard against the rule’s otherwise broad joinder of unrelated claims.
Source & verification. The rule text and Advisory Commission Comments are reproduced verbatim from the
official Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure (Tenn. R. Civ. P. 18). Prescribed by the Supreme Court of Tennessee (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 16-3-402 to 16-3-407, 16-3-601). The plain-English summary is original and written by us. Last verified July 2, 2026. ·
Official source
Also known as: joinder of claimspermissive joinderlegal and equitable claims combined
Advisory Commission Comments.
18.01: Rule 18.01 allows any party to assert in the pleading all claims which the party may have against an opposing party. As these rules provide for a common procedure in circuit and chancery courts, the joinder of legal and equitable claims is made possible, except where jurisdictional limitations prevent such joinder.
18.02: Rule 18.02 is designed to allow a party to accomplish in a single action a result which under prior law required that two or more actions be taken in proper sequence. The particular cases set out in the Rule are illustrative; e.g., if a party has a claim against a debtor, and the debtor has conveyed his or her assets in fraud of the claimant, the claimant can sue for the debt and sue to set aside the fraudulent conveyance at the same time. The court would grant the second remedy - setting aside the conveyance - only if it found that the claimant was entitled to the money judgment sought. (Actually, this particular result was permitted by prior statute (Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-12-101), but it illustrates the purposes of the Rule.)