Rule 18.Joinder of claims and remedies

Once two parties are already in a lawsuit together, Rule 18 removes the need to file separate cases for separate claims. A plaintiff, or a defendant asserting a counterclaim, can join as many legal or equitable claims against the opposing party as they have, whether the claims are related to each other or not, and whether they are pressed as independent claims or as alternatives to one another. When more than two parties are involved, that same freedom to combine claims applies as long as the joinder rules for adding parties, claims against co-parties, and interpleader are also satisfied, and the same goes for crossclaims and third-party claims that meet their own joinder requirements.

The rule also frees up the order in which claims get resolved. A party does not have to win a judgment on one claim before adding a second claim that only makes sense once the first one succeeds — both can be joined in a single case, with the court sorting out what relief each side is entitled to. The rule gives a concrete example: a plaintiff can ask for a money judgment and, in the same case, ask the court to set aside a transaction the defendant used to dodge paying debts, without first nailing down the money judgment in a separate lawsuit.