Art. 1071 Cross-claims

If you're a defendant in a lawsuit and another defendant is involved in the same case, you can file a claim against that other defendant. This is called a cross-claim. You can only do this if the claim is connected to the same events or property already involved in the lawsuit.

For example, if you and another person are both being sued because of a car accident, you could file a cross-claim against that other person if you believe they caused the accident and should be responsible for the damages instead of you. The cross-claim has to relate to the same accident or situation that's already part of the case. You can't use it to bring up a completely unrelated issue.

This rule also lets you say that the other party owes you money or is responsible to you for some or all of what you might have to pay in the original lawsuit. This way, disputes between co-defendants that are connected to the same case can get resolved together, instead of requiring a separate lawsuit later.