CIVIL PROCEDURE-RIGHT OF IMPLEADER UNDER MICHIGAN CONTRIBUTION STATUTE

Authors

W. J. Roper, University of Michigan Law School

Abstract

Plaintiff, a resident of Michigan, brought a negligence action against defendant, an Illinois corporation, for personal injury in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The defendant moved to implead a citizen of Michigan and a Michigan corporation as third party defendants on the theory that under the Michigan Contribution Statute as concurrent tortfeasors they would be liable to him for part of the judgment in the event that plaintiff recovered in the suit. The court granted the motion and the defendant filed its third party complaint. Plaintiff then moved to dismiss the third party complaint. Held: motion granted. The court reasoned that since the Michigan Contribution Statute was almost identical with that of New York and since the Michigan Supreme Court has never passed upon the right of impleader under it, the New York court's interpretation of their statute denying impleader should govern. Buckner v. Foster (McLouth Steel Corp., ThirdParty Defendants), (D.C. Mich. 1952) 105 F. Supp. 279.

Recommended Citation

W. J. Roper, CIVIL PROCEDURE-RIGHT OF IMPLEADER UNDER MICHIGAN CONTRIBUTION STATUTE, 51 Mich. L. Rev. 590 (1953).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol51/iss4/11