I am watching a civil case for a friend and was looking at the online docket. My friend is a third party defendant in counterclaim (was not part of the original lawsuit list of parties). Seems like the plaintiff in the original claim has filed for a motion for dismissal of the counterclaim. My question is if the motion is granted, will my friend not be part of the case again like before? Or will he still be party to the case? Hope this makes sense. I'm just interested in knowing what this means. Thanks!
Asked
Active
Viewed 170 times
1 Answers
2
if the motion is granted, will my friend not be part of the case again like before? Or will he still be party to the case?
It depends on the scope and details of the court ruling and of the motion to dismiss. If the plaintiff limited his arguments to issues that pertain only to him, the ruling might dismiss only him and allow the counterclaim to proceed as to other counter-defendants.
Nickens v. Mercer County Correctional Center (US Dist. Court, NJ, Dec. 2022) is a recent example where court ruled to dismiss only one defendant. Other defendants were granted summary judgment only on some of the claims. For purposes of your question, being summary judgment versus dismissal makes no difference.
Iñaki Viggers
- 45,677
- 4
- 72
- 96