Rule 22 Interpleader

When someone holds money or property that two or more people are claiming, they can use this rule to sort out who actually has the right to it. Instead of getting sued separately by each person and risking having to pay out more than once, the person holding the money or property (usually called the "stakeholder") can bring all the claimants into one lawsuit and let the court decide who gets what.

This works even if the people claiming the money don't agree with each other, have completely different reasons for their claims, or aren't connected to each other at all. It also works even if the stakeholder thinks none of them, or only some of them, actually deserve the money. The point is to let one court settle the whole dispute at once instead of dealing with multiple lawsuits that could lead to unfair or conflicting results.

A defendant in a lawsuit can also use this process if they find themselves facing similar risk of being sued multiple times for the same thing. They can raise this through a counterclaim or a claim against another defendant. This rule works alongside the regular rules about joining parties in a lawsuit and doesn't replace them. It also has to follow a specific Virgin Islands law (5 V.I.C. § 1391) that applies to this kind of case.