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Rule 20.02 Separate Trials

Rule 20. Permissive Joinder of Parties

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Rule Text

The court may make such orders as will prevent a party from being embarrassed, delayed, or put to expense by the inclusion of another party against whom the party asserts no claim and who asserts no claim against the party, and may order separate trials or may make other orders to prevent delay or prejudice.

Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)

This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.

Sometimes a lawsuit includes several parties, but not everyone has a claim against everyone else. If one person in the case has nothing to do with another person's dispute, being lumped into the same case can waste their time and money or cause unfair problems for them.

To fix this, the judge can step in and issue orders to protect that person. This might mean holding separate trials for different parts of the case, or making other decisions to keep things fair and moving efficiently.

The main goal is to stop anyone from being unfairly dragged into a fight that is not really theirs. If a party is not making a claim against someone else, and that other person is not making a claim against them, the court can separate their issues so no one gets stuck with extra costs, delays, or headaches that don't belong to them.

Committee Notes

Advisory Commission Comments.

Rule 19 deals with situations where certain parties must be joined. Rule 20 deals with permissive joinder. The rule is designed to allow a single suit to determine the rights and liabilities of all persons when those rights and liabilities arose out of the same transaction or occurrence and when a common question of law or fact exists among all parties. Where the liberality of the permissive joinder provisions works a hardship on a particular party or parties, the court is empowered to order separate trials or make other orders necessary to prevent delay or prejudice.

← Previous Rule 20.01: Permissive Joinder Next → Rule 21: Misjoinder and Nonjoinder of Parties

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Last updated: August 2026

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