The
language of US
litigation is
rife with designations of different
parties based on their role in the case. The following is a
non-exhaustive list of the most important designations to know:
The familiar players
Plaintiff: The
person or
entity that initiates a
civil lawsuit. In a
criminal case, the
State or the
People of the State are generally designated as "Plaintiff".
Defendant: The
person or
entity that is sued.
Petitioner: A party filing a
petition in a court. For example, the spouse filing for divorce might be referred to as the "Petitioner" in some states. This also refers to parties initiating certain
appellate proceedings, e.g.
petition for certiorari or
petition for review.
Respondent: The party against whom the petition is filed.
Appellant: The party initiating an
appeal of the decision of a lower
court. Sometimes designated more precisely
Plaintiff-Appellant
Defendant-Appellant
Petitioner-Appellant
Respondent-Appellant
Intervenor-Appellant
Appellee: The party defending the decision of the lower court on
appeal.
Plaintiff-Appellee
Defendant-Appellee
Petitioner-Appellee
Respondent-Appellee
Intervenor-Appellee
The hyphenations are important because the
caption is not always reversed on appeal. For example, if Ron Davis sues Emiliano Schwarzenegger, the case will be
Davis v. Schwarzenegger both in the trial court and on appeal. Thus, the only way to know for sure whether it's the plaintiff or defendant who's taking the appeal is to have the parties designated accordingly, e.g.
IN THE NINTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS
RON DAVIS,
Plaintiff-Appellee
v.
EMILIANO SCHWARZENEGGER,
Defendant-Appellant
The hyphenations make clear that Davis sued Schwarzenegger, Schwarzenegger lost, and now appeals.
On petition for
certiorari, the caption may or may not be reversed, depending on who filed the petition. If the plaintiff filed the petition for certiorari, the caption will generally remain the same. If the defendant filed for certiorari, the caption in the case originally filed as
Barry v. Crackpipe Industries, Inc. will look like this:
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
CRACKPIPE INDUSTRIES, INC.,
Petitioner,
v.
BARRY,
Respondent
However, sometimes a lawsuit gets more complex, and parties take on dual roles, or new parties are added.
Intervenor: An intervenor is not originally a party to the lawsuit, but participates in a lawsuit already
pending between two parties in several situations:
(1) when a statute of the United States confers an unconditional right to intervene; or
(2) when the applicant claims an interest relating to the property or transaction which is the subject of the action and the applicant is so situated that the disposition of the action may as a practical
matter impair or impede the applicant’s ability to protect that interest, unless the applicant’s interest is adequately represented by existing parties.
This is known as
Intervention of Right, where the party seeking to intervene (the "applicant") has a legal right to intervene in the pending lawsuit.
Fed. R. Civ. P. 24(a)
There is a second set of circumstances under which a party
may be permitted to intervene:
(1) when a statute of the United States confers a conditional right to intervene; or
(2) when an applicant’s claim or defense and the main action have a question of law or fact in common. When a party to an action relies for ground of claim or defense upon any statute or executive order administered by a federal or state governmental officer or agency or upon any regulation, order, requirement, or agreement issued or made pursuant to the statute or executive order, the officer or agency upon timely application may be permitted to intervene in the action. In exercising its discretion the court shall
consider whether the intervention will unduly delay or prejudice the adjudication of the rights of the original parties.
This is known as "Permissive Intervention,"
Fed. R. Civ. P. 24(b).
Cross and Counter
Counterclaimant / Counter-plaintiff / Counterclaim Plaintiff: A defendant who responds to the plaintiff's suit by raising a
cause of action against the plaintiff.
Crossclaimant / Cross-plaintiff / Crossclaim Plaintiff: A defendant or plaintiff who raises a cause of action against a codefendant/coplaintiff.