Rule 14 Third-Party Practice

Advisory Committee Historical Note

Effective February 26, 2025, Rule 14(a) was amended to authorize a defendant/third- party plaintiff to file a third-party complaint without leave of court within ten days after serving its original answer. ____ So. 2d ____ (West Miss. Cases 20__).

Effective July 1, 1986, a new Rule 14 was adopted. 486-490 So. 2d XVII (West Miss. Cas. 1986).

Effective May 1, 1982, Rule 14 was abrogated. 410-416 So. 2d XXI (West Miss. Cas. 1982).

Advisory Committee Notes

It is essential that the third-party claim be for some form of derivative or secondary liability of the third-party defendant to the third-party plaintiff. Impleader is not available for the assertion of an independent action by the defendant against a third party, even if the claim arose out of the same transaction or occurrence as the main claim. Once a third-party claim is properly asserted, however, the third-party plaintiff may assert whatever additional claims the third-party plaintiff has against the third-party defendant under Rule 18(a).

The requirement that the third-party claim be for derivative or secondary liability may be met by, for example, an allegation of a right of indemnity (contractual or otherwise), contribution, subrogation, or warranty. The rule does not, however create any such rights. It merely provides a procedure for expedited consideration of these rights where they are available under substantive law. An insured party has a derivative claim for indemnity against the insured party’s liability insurer, and may implead the party’s liability insurer, if the insured is being sued for damages allegedly covered by the liability policy and the insurer is disclaiming coverage pursuant to the liability policy.

A defendant who is subject to joint and several liability for a plaintiff’s damages may have a claim against joint tortfeasors for contribution. Generally, in Mississippi, liability for damages imposed in civil cases based upon “fault” is several only and not joint and several, thereby obviating the need or basis for contribution claims. Mississippi Code Annotated section 85-5-7(4), however, provides that ‘[j]oint and several liability shall be imposed on all who consciously and deliberately pursue a common plan or design to commit a tortuous act, or who actively take part in it.” The statute further provides that “[a]ny person held jointly and severally liable under [such] section shall have a right of contribution from his fellow defendants acting in concert.” Thus, Mississippi law grants a defendant who has been held jointly and severally liable for acting in concert a right of contribution against co- defendants who were also acting in concert.

A first-party insurer against loss, sued by its policyholder for such loss, has a derivative claim for subrogation against, and may implead the person who allegedly caused the loss, where a right of subrogation would arise from the insurer’s payment of the insured plaintiff’s claim.

Because the rule expressly allows third-party claims against one who “may be liable,” it is not an objection to implead that the third party’s liability is contingent on the original plaintiff’s recovery against the defendant/third-party plaintiff.

[Advisory Committee Note adopted effective July 1, 2024; amended February 26, 2025.]