Impleader

• Author: Jeffrey Lehman, Shirelle Phelps

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A procedural device used in a civil action whereby a defendant brings into the lawsuit a third party who is not already a party to the action but may ultimately be liable for the plaintiff's claim against the defendant.

Impleader is most commonly used where the third party, often an insurance company, has a duty to indemnify, or contribute to the payment of, the plaintiff's damages. An insurance policy usually provides that if the insured is sued, the insurance company will defend him or her in court and pay any damages owed if he or she is found liable in the action. For example, suppose a person slips and falls on a home-owner's property, suffers an injury, and sues the homeowner. If the homeowner has a home-owner's policy, he may implead his insurance company by filing a third-party complaint for approval by the court. If the court permits the complaint, the insurer is brought into the action. The homeowner is now both the defendant in the action and a third-party plaintiff. If he is found liable and ordered to pay damages, the insurance company will be expected to pay all or part of those damages.

Impleader, which was known as vouching-in at COMMON LAW, is now governed by procedural rules on both the state and federal levels. "Vouching in" has its origins in the English common-law practice of "vouching to warranty." A defendant, sued by a plaintiff for the recovery of a certain piece of property, could "vouch in" another party who may have given a WARRANTY of title when the property was sold to the defendant. Similar types of third-party

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actions began to appear in this country and eventually, in the interests of uniformity, a federal rule of civil procedure providing for impleader was adopted. Rule 14 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that "a defending party, as a third-party plaintiff, may cause a summons and complaint to be served upon a person not a party to the action who is or may be liable to the third-party plaintiff for all or part of the plaintiff's claim against the third-party plaintiff."State rules of civil procedure regulate the use of impleader in actions commenced in state courts. In Connecticut, for instance,"a defendant in any civil action may move the court for permission to serve a writ, summons and complaint upon a person not a party to the action who is or may be liable to him for all or part of the plain-tiff's claim against him" (Conn. R. Super. Ct...