RULE 21. MISJOINDER AND NON-JOINDER OF PARTIES
Effective Date: 9/20/1979
Obsolete Date: 3/1/2011
Misjoinder of parties is not ground for dismissal of an action. Parties may be dropped or added by order of the court on motion of any party or of its own initiative at any stage of the action and on such terms as are just. Any claim against a party may be severed and proceeded with separately.
Rule 21 was amended, effective March 1, 2011.
Rule 21 is derived from Fed.R.Civ.P. 21.
Rule 21 was amended, effective March 1, 2011, in response to the December 1, 2007, revision of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The language and organization of the rule were changed to make the rule more easily understood and to make style and terminology consistent throughout the rules.
SOURCES: Joint Procedure Committee Minutes of April 24-25, 2008, page 29; September 20-21, 1979, page 13; Fed.R.Civ.P. 21.
CROSS REFERENCE: N.D.R.Civ.P. 17 (Parties Plaintiff and Defendant-Capacity),N.D.R.Civ.P. 18 (Joinder of Claims and Remedies), N.D.R.Civ.P. 19 (Joinder of Persons Needed for Just Adjudication), N.D.R.Civ.P. 20 (Permissive Joinder of Parties), N.D.R.Civ.P. 25 (Substitution of Parties), and N.D.R.Civ.P. 42 (Consolidation-Separate Trials).