Rule 25.Substitution of parties

Litigation can outlast the people who started it. Rule 25 supplies the mechanics for keeping a case moving when a party dies, becomes incompetent, transfers away the interest at stake, or — for a public officer sued in an official capacity — leaves office. When a party dies and the claim survives that death, any party or the deceased party's own successors or representatives can move to substitute the proper party, serving the motion on existing parties under Rule 5 and on any new, non-party successors the way a summons is served under Rule 4. That motion has a real deadline: once someone formally suggests the death on the record by serving a statement of the fact of death, the case must be dismissed as to the deceased party unless a substitution motion follows within ninety days. Where a claim survives only in favor of, or only against, the remaining parties — say, one of several co-plaintiffs dies — the case doesn't abate at all; the death gets noted on the record and the action continues in favor of or against whoever is left.

The same substitution mechanics extend to a party who becomes incompetent during the case, letting the action continue by or against that party's representative. If a party transfers away the interest that's the subject of the suit — selling a claim, assigning a contract right, and the like — the case can keep going in the name of the original party unless the court, on motion, orders the transferee substituted in or joined. And when a public officer sued in that capacity dies, resigns, or otherwise leaves office, the successor can be substituted in within six months of taking office, but only on a showing that continuing the case against the new officeholder serves a substantial need — protecting against stale claims against officials who had nothing to do with the original dispute, while letting live controversies about an office's ongoing conduct proceed.