United States v. Joe Grasso & Son, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
380 F.2d 749 (5th Cir. 1967)
Joe Grasso & Son, Inc. (Grasso) sued the government for a refund of federal employment taxes it paid for fishermen on its shrimp boats. The government answered by impleading the boat captains as third-party defendants, arguing that if Grasso proved it wasn't the fishermen's employer, that would show the captains were. The district court dismissed the third-party claim, noting a third possibility the government ignored — that the fishermen had no employer at all — meaning the third-party claim didn't truly arise from the main claim. The government took an interlocutory appeal.
Whether an entirely separate and independent claim can be maintained against a third party under Rule 14, even if it arises out of the same general facts as the main claim.