Furthermore, even if concerns about forum shopping are set aside, the second of the twin aims would apply to the
impleader just as much as the negligence action.
Impleader Under Rule 14: The Kroger Plaintiff and Defensive Claims
The filing of a motion for
impleader is a sufficient pleading in order to assert a valid claim against third-party defendants in a supplementary proceeding.
In dismissing the
impleader and cross claim for lack of admiralty tort jurisdiction, the lower court had relied on Executive Jet Aviation, Inc.
Second, the Court apparently saw no impediment to the exercise of jurisdiction over the
impleader claim itself, even though it lacked an independent basis for federal jurisdiction.
33) The Court worried that plaintiffs might omit nondiverse defendants from their initial complaint, await their predictable
impleader under Rule 14, and then amend their complaint to assert the previously omitted claims, a strategy that might undermine the complete-diversity requirement.
Rule 14(b) expressly authorizes the plaintiff to implead third-party defendants in response to a counterclaim, and Rule 14(a)[1] by its terms applies generically to allow
impleader of a third-party defendant by a "defending party.
