Civil Procedure II

Joinder of Claims

Rule 18 allows a single plaintiff to join all claims against a single defendant.

The total value of the claims is aggregated to establish the value of the case in controversy to establish diversity jurisdiction.

Two plaintiffs may not aggregate their claims if they are "separate and distinct." To do so, they must have a joint interest at stake.

The court must still have subject matter jurisdiction over all claims, so an unrelated car accident claim could not be joined with a federal question claim against a defendant from the same state.