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Rule 18 – Joinder of Claims and Remedies

May 14, 2021 | Civil Procedure, South Carolina

(a) Joinder of Claims. A party asserting a cause of action as an original claim, counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party claim, may join, either as independent or as alternate claims, as many claims, legal, or equitable, as he has against the opposing party.
(b) Joinder of Remedies; Fraudulent Conveyances. Whenever a claim is one heretofore cognizable only after another claim has been prosecuted to a conclusion, the two claims may be joined in a single action; but the court shall grant relief in that action only in accordance with the relative substantive rights of the parties. In particular, a plaintiff may state a claim for money and a claim to have set aside a conveyance fraudulent as to him, without first having obtained a judgment establishing the claim for money.
(c) Separate Trials. The court may make such orders as will prevent a party from being embarrassed, delayed or put to unnecessary expense by the joinder of independent or disassociated claims, and may order separate trials or make other orders to prevent delay or prejudice.

S.c. R. Civ. P. 18

This Rule 18(a) is the same as the Federal Rule. This Rule substantially modifies current State practice under Code ยง15-15-10 which limits for purposes of pleading, the joinder of claims. Under this Rule 18(a) there are no limitations on the joinder of claims for pleading purposes. Under Rule 18(c), the court does have power to grant separate trials on the different claims when it would be more convenient or fair. This Rule refers only to joinder of claims for pleading purposes. Rules 19-22 govern joinder of parties.

This is the language of current Federal Rule 18(b) and provides that in a single action a party should be accorded all the relief, legal, equitable or both to which that party is entitled. The last sentence of the Rule is in accordance with the Uniform Fraudulent Conveyance Act, but joinder of the two claims is permissive, not mandatory.

This provision is not in Federal Rule 18. Similar provisions are in Rules 13(i), 20(b), 21, and 43. The only problem from liberal joinder of claims is possibly the inconvenience of trying various claims in one lawsuit. This Rule provides the court authority to resolve such problems by appropriate orders.