Rule Text
(a) The joinder of parties shall not be deemed to unite for jurisdictional purposes amounts in controversy claimed severally, separately or in the alternative by or against the respective parties plaintiff and defendant.
(b) [Rescinded]
(c) The trial of an action in which parties have joined or have been joined under Rules 2228 and 2229 shall be conducted as if independent actions between such parties had been consolidated for trial.
(d) Except as otherwise provided by these rules, the joinder of parties in any action shall not affect the procedural rights which each party would have if suing or sued separately, and the verdicts and judgments entered therein shall be joint, several or separate according to the nature of the right or liability therein determined.
(e) If two or more defendants are joined under Rule 2229 (d), the plaintiff shall not be permitted to discontinue or enter a nolle prosequi or a voluntary nonsuit as to any defendant primarily liable to the plaintiff unless the plaintiff also does so as to all defendants secondarily liable to the plaintiff for the default of such defendant.
(f) Rescinded.
(g) Rescinded.
(h) Rescinded.
Amendment history: The provisions of this Rule 2231 adopted June 7, 1940, effective February 5, 1941; amended June 23, 1975, effective immediately, 5 Pa.B. 1819; amended April 12, 1999, effective July 1, 1999, 29 Pa.B. 2274; amended May 30, 2001, effective July 1, 2001, 31 Pa.B. 3184. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (255315) to (255316).
Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)
This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.
When multiple people are joined together in one lawsuit, the court treats each person's claims or liabilities separately. The amount of money one person is suing for does not get added to another person's claim just because they are in the same case.
Even though everyone is in the same lawsuit, the trial runs as if each person had filed their own separate case that was combined for convenience. Each party keeps the same legal rights they would have had if they were in their own separate case, and any verdict or judgment will be applied to each person based on their own role in the dispute.
There is one special rule about dropping defendants from a case. If you have a main defendant who is directly responsible to you, and other defendants who are only responsible if that main defendant fails to pay, you cannot drop the main defendant from the case without also dropping those secondary defendants.
Committee Notes
Rule 2231(b) was rendered obsolete by the abolition of the County Court of Allegheny County and the former Municipal Court of Philadelphia County by the Constitution of 1968.
If in any case in which parties have joined or have been joined as permitted or required by these rules it would be inconvenient or prejudicial to the rights of any party to hold a common trial of all issues, the court, by virtue of its power of severance, may order the separate trial of any of the issues. Pa. R.C.P. No. 213(b).
See Rule 226(b) for the entry of a directed verdict and Rule 230.1(b) for the entry of a compulsory nonsuit.
See Rule 226(b) for the entry of a directed verdict and Rule 230.1(c) for the entry of a compulsory nonsuit.
