Also known as: double liability · multiple liability
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A stakeholder's exposure to satisfying the same obligation or distributing the same fund to multiple competing claimants.
Evergreen Investments holds a deceased client's account balance after halting a wire transfer. The estate executor, a named charity, and two ex-spouses each present separate court orders or letters demanding the entire sum. Evergreen joins all four as defendants in one action and deposits the funds with the court so the claimants must litigate their entitlements among themselves.
Prime Indemnity sets aside the full limits of a liability policy after a multi-vehicle collision. The injured passenger, two estates of the deceased drivers, and a subrogated insurer each assert priority to the same proceeds and threaten separate suits. Prime deposits the limits with the court and requires the claimants to resolve their competing rights in a single proceeding.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
No. The rule expressly permits joinder even when the claimants' rights lack a common origin or rest on adverse and independent legal theories.
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No. The rule allows interpleader even when the stakeholder denies liability in whole or in part to one or all claimants.
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It creates the prospect that separate judgments will require the holder to pay the same fund more than once or face inconsistent obligations.
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The stakeholder joins all claimants in one action, deposits the disputed fund with the court, and obtains a single determination of entitlement that discharges further liability.
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…may be joined as defendants and required to interplead when their claims are such that the plaintiff is or may be exposed to double or multiple liability. . . .” First, as we indicate today, this action was properly brought under § 1335. Second, State Farm did not purport to invoke Rule 22. Third, State Farm could not have invoked it in…