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Rule 17 – Parties Plaintiff and Defendant; Capacity

May 14, 2021 | Civil Procedure, Washington

Designation of Parties. The party commencing the action shall be known as the plaintiff, and the opposite party as the defendant.

(a)Real Party in Interest. Every action shall be prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest. An executor, administrator, guardian, bailee, trustee of an express trust, a party with whom or in whose name a contract has been made for the benefit of another, or a party authorized by statute may sue in the party’s own name without joining the party for whose benefit the action is brought. No action shall be dismissed on the ground that it is not prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest until a reasonable time has been allowed after objection for ratification of commencement of the action by, or joinder or substitution of, the real party in interest; and such ratification, joinder, or substitution shall have the same effect as if the action had been commenced in the name of the real party in interest.
(b)Capacity To Sue or Be Sued. (Reserved.)
(c)Infants, or Incompetent Persons.

(1)Scope. Generally this rule does not affect statutes and rules concerning the capacity of infants and incompetents to sue or be sued.
(2)Guardian ad Litem for Infant. (Reserved. See RCW 4.08.050.)
(3)Guardian ad Litem for Incompetents. (Reserved. See RCW 4.08.060.)
(d)Actions on Assigned Choses in Action. (Reserved. See RCW 4.08.080.)
(e)Public Corporations.

(1)Actions by. (Reserved. See RCW 4.08.110.)
(2)Actions Against. (Reserved. See RCW 4.08.120.)
(f)Tort Actions Against State. (Reserved. See RCW 4.92.)

Wash. Sup. Ct. Civ. R. 17

Adopted effective July 1, 1967; amended effective April 28, 2015.