Jeub v. B/G Foods, Inc.
United States District Court for the District of Minnesota
2 F.R.D. 238 (Minn. 1942)
Jeub (plaintiff) got food poisoning eating ham at a B/G Foods (defendant) restaurant and sued B/G, which obtained a court order to bring in Swift and Company (Swift), the ham's manufacturer, as a third-party defendant. Swift moved to vacate the impleader order, arguing that Jeub hadn't amended the complaint to name Swift directly, and that B/G couldn't currently bring an independent claim against Swift because B/G hadn't yet suffered any actual loss (since the underlying suit against B/G wasn't resolved).
Whether impleader of a third-party defendant is appropriate even if an independent action for monetary recovery could not currently be brought against that third party by the original defendant.