An indispensable party (also called a required party, necessary party, or necessary and indispensable party) is a

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...

in a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

whose participation is required for

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Jur ...

or the purpose of rendering a

judgment Judgement (or US spelling judgment) is also known as ''adjudication'', which means the evaluation of evidence to decision-making, make a decision. Judgement is also the ability to make considered decisions. The term has at least five distinct u ...

. In reality, a party may be "necessary" but not indispensable. For example, if they claim an interest in the litigation, that interest may be impeded if they are not joined. That doesn't transform them into an indispensable party unless their absence threatens some other party's interest. Often, an indispensable party is any party whose rights are directly affected by disposition of the case. Many

s have rules which provide for an indispensable party to be joined (brought into the case as a party) at the

discretion Discretion has the meaning of acting on one's own authority and judgment. In law, discretion as to legal rulings, such as whether evidence is excluded at a trial, may be exercised by a judge. Some view discretion negatively, while some view it ...

of the

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

; this is referred to as a nonjoinder of party.39 Am J1st Parties § 110. In some cases, the inability to join such a party means that the case must be dismissed. In the United States, this is outlined in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 19.

Identifying an indispensable party

The indispensable party is often a prudential

standing Standing, also referred to as orthostasis, is a position in which the body is held in an ''erect'' ("orthostatic") position and supported only by the feet. Although seemingly static, the body rocks slightly back and forth from the ankle in the s ...

requirement. That is, while the parties currently involved in litigation have an actual

case or controversy The Supreme Court of the United States has interpreted the Case or Controversy Clause of Article III of the United States Constitution (found in Art. III, Section 2, Clause 1) as embodying two distinct limitations on exercise of judicial review: ...

, judges will not proceed without the indispensable party. This avoids potential double litigation and possibly inequitable outcomes. In determining whether a party is indispensable, courts generally look to three factors: # Will the missing party's interests be harmed in some direct way by the outcome of the case? # Does the missing party have an interest which would cause another party to the case to be subjected to multiple obligations? # Can the court provide complete relief to the plaintiff without the presence of the missing party? In patent law, for example, a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

owner is an indispensable party to a

patent infringement Patent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a license. The definition of patent infringement may v ...

suit brought by an exclusive

license A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

e against an alleged infringer. The patent owner's rights would be directly affected by a finding of invalidity or unenforceability of the

patent claim In a patent or patent application, the claims define, in technical terms, the extent, i.e. the scope, of the protection conferred by a patent, or the protection sought in a patent application. In other words, the purpose of the claims is to define ...

s. At the same time, if the patent owner is not a party to the case, the alleged infringer could be sued separately by the patent owner, and could end up having to pay two judgments for the same act of infringement.

Determining the feasibility of joining an indispensable party

Once it has been determined that a missing party is indispensable, the court must determine whether it is feasible to join that party to the case. In making this determination, the court will use the same analysis that it uses to determine whether it has jurisdiction over any party. First, it must determine whether it can exercise

personal jurisdiction Personal jurisdiction is a court's jurisdiction over the ''parties'', as determined by the facts in evidence, which bind the parties to a lawsuit, as opposed to subject-matter jurisdiction, which is jurisdiction over the ''law'' involved in the ...

over the party. Second, it must determine whether the exercise of personal jurisdiction will affect its

subject matter jurisdiction Subject-matter jurisdiction (also called jurisdiction ''ratione materiae')'' is the authority of a court to hear cases of a particular type or cases relating to a specific subject matter. For instance, bankruptcy court only has the authority ...

. In

diversity Diversity, diversify, or diverse may refer to: Business *Diversity (business), the inclusion of people of different identities (ethnicity, gender, age) in the workforce *Diversity marketing, marketing communication targeting diverse customers * ...

cases, which brought in federal court on the basis of all plaintiffs coming from different states as all defendants, joinder will not be deemed feasible if it destroys diversity. Where the missing party can not be brought into the case, the court must determine whether it is possible to proceed without joining that party. If it is not possible to proceed, the case will be dismissed. In some jurisdictions, the failure to join an indispensable party does not hinder the case. For example, the Commonwealth of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

does not recognize the doctrine of indispensable parties; although a defendant may argue that the plaintiff has improperly failed to join a party that would conventionally be deemed indispensable, and may seek to have the court ''attempt'' to join the missing party, if it is not feasible to join the missing party then the case will simply go on without them.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Indispensable Party United States civil procedure American legal terminology Civil procedure legal terminology