Luyster v. Textron, Inc.
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
266 F.R.D. 54 (S.D.N.Y. 2010)
In a wrongful-death suit over a plane crash, defendant KS Gleitlager brought a third-party complaint against the Government alleging air-traffic-control negligence, and fellow defendant Superior then filed its own cross-claim against the Government seeking contribution on the same negligence theory; the Government moved to dismiss Superior's cross-claim, arguing Superior and the Government (an original defendant and a third-party defendant, respectively) were not "co-parties" under Rule 13(g).
Whether parties on the same side of litigation, but on different levels of the caption, are co-parties for the purpose of filing cross-claims under Rule 13(g) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.