60-219. Joinder of persons needed for just adjudication. - Kansas Statutes

60-219

Chapter 60.--PROCEDURE, CIVIL Article 2.--RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE

      60-219.   Joinder of persons needed for just adjudication.(a) Persons to be joined if feasible. Whenever a "contingentlynecessary" person, as hereafter defined, is subject to service of process,he shall be joined as a party in the action. If he has not been so joined,the court shall order that he be made a party. If he should join as aplaintiff but refuses to do so, he may be made a defendant, or, in a propercase, an involuntary plaintiff. If the joined party objects to venue andhis joinder would render the venue of the action improper, he shall bedismissed from the action.

      A person is contingently necessary if (1) complete relief cannot beaccorded in his absence among those already parties, or (2) he claims aninterest relating to the property or transaction which is the subject ofthe action and he is so situated that the disposition of the action in hisabsence may (i) as a practical matter substantially impair or impede hisability to protect that interest or (ii) leave any of the persons alreadyparties subject to a substantial risk of incurring double, multiple, orotherwise inconsistent obligations by reason of his claimed interest.

      (b)   Determination by court whenever joinder not feasible. If acontingently necessary person cannot be made a party, the court shalldetermine whether in equity and good conscience the action ought to proceedamong the parties before it or ought to be dismissed. The factors to beconsidered by the court include: First, to what extent a judgment renderedin the absence of the contingently necessary person might be prejudicial tohim or those already parties; second, the extent to which, by protectiveprovisions in the judgment, by the shaping of relief, or other measures,the prejudice can be lessened or avoided; third, whether a judgmentrendered in the absence of the contingently necessary person would beadequate; fourth, whether the plaintiff would have an adequate remedy ifthe action were dismissed for nonjoinder.

      (c)   Pleading reasons for nonjoinder. A pleading asserting a claimfor relief shall state the names, if known to the pleader, of contingentlynecessary persons who are not joined, and the reasons why they are notjoined.

      (d)   Exception of class actions. This section is subject to theprovisions of K.S.A. 60-223.

      History:   L. 1963, ch. 303, 60-219; amended by SupremeCourt order dated July 17, 1969) effective on publication in Kansas Reportsand in K.S.A. 1969 Supp.