JOINDER OF CORPORATE DIRECTORS, OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES

Authors

  • JOHN J CHAPMAN

Abstract

The rules of civil litigation have liberal joinder provisions under which plaintiffs are given the right to join as a defendant any person who may have caused them harm. Recent case law indicates that plaintiffs are increasingly using these rules to join individual directors, officers and employees as defendants in an effort to increase the tactical pressures on corporate defendants to settle. Although our courts have decried this practice, they have not been particularly effective at sanctioning it. In this article the author discusses the practical reasons for expansive joinder ; when such joinder might be considered to be overreaching and provides some suggestions as to how the court process might be more proactive in dealing with this issue.

Keywords:

Litigation

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Published

2001-10-01

Issue

Section

Legal Commentary