United States Third Circuit
Ricketti v. Barry, 14-1483
Order dismissing plaintiff's civil action against defendants pursuant to New Jersey's entire-controversy doctrine, a state rule of procedure that discourages successive litigation concerning the same subject matter, is vacated and the case is remanded for further proceedings, where: 1) since 1998, automatic preclusion of a successive suit has not been the appropriate sanction in New Jersey for failure to join a defendant in an earlier action concerning the same subject matter; 2) the rules now contemplate dismissal only if noncompliance was "inexcusable" and "the right of the undisclosed party to defend" a successive action was "substantially prejudiced" (N.J. Ct. R. 4:5-1(b)(2)); and 3) the district court failed to conduct the inquiry required for dismissal pursuant to the post-1998 rules.
Appellate Information
- Decided 01/07/2015
- Published 01/07/2015
Judges
- Hardiman
Court
- United States Third Circuit