RULE 22. INTERPLEADER

Obsolete Date: 3/1/2011

(a) By Joinder, Cross-Claim or Counterclaim. Persons having claims against the plaintiff may be joined as defendants and required to interplead if their claims are such that the plaintiff is or may be exposed to double or multiple liability. It is not ground for objection to the joinder that the claims of the several claimants or the titles on which their claims depend do not have a common origin or are not identical but are adverse to and independent of one another, or that the plaintiff disclaims liability in whole or in part to any or all of the claimants. A defendant exposed to similar liability may obtain like interpleader by way of cross-claim or counterclaim. The provisions of this rule supplement and do not in any way limit the joinder of parties permitted in Rule 20.

(b) By Substitution. A defendant against whom an action is pending upon a contract, or for specific real or personal property, at any time before answer, upon affidavit that a person not a party to the action and without collusion with the defendant makes against the defendant a demand for the same debt or property, upon due notice to that person and the adverse party, may apply to the court for an order to substitute that person as a party and to discharge the defendant from liability to either party upon depositing in court the amount of the debt, or delivering the property or its value to such person as the court may direct, and the court, in its discretion, may make the order.