A cross-defendant is a party in a lawsuit who gets sued by someone on the same side of the case caption. Under Rule 13 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a cross-claim travels between coparties: a co-defendant suing another co-defendant, or a co-plaintiff suing another co-plaintiff.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 13 – Counterclaim and Crossclaim The person on the receiving end of that claim is the cross-defendant, and they now have to defend against the cross-claim while continuing to litigate whatever brought them into the lawsuit in the first place.
How You End Up as a Cross-Defendant
In most cases, you were already a party. A plaintiff sued a group of defendants, and one of your co-defendants decided you were partly or wholly to blame for the plaintiff’s injury, so they filed a cross-claim against you. The cross-claimant drafts a pleading laying out the factual and legal basis for the claim and files it with the court. Because you have already appeared in the case, service usually goes to your attorney of record rather than through a process server.2Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 5 – Serving and Filing Pleadings and Other Papers
It is also possible to be dragged in from the outside. Rule 13(h) incorporates the joinder rules, which means a cross-claim can add someone who was not originally part of the lawsuit if their involvement is tied closely enough to the dispute.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 13 – Counterclaim and Crossclaim A newly added cross-defendant who has not yet appeared in the case must be served with the full process required for any original defendant.
What the Cross-Claim Is Likely Asking For
Cross-claims against co-defendants usually rest on one of two theories, and the difference matters because it tells you how much is at stake.
Contribution
A contribution claim asks the court to spread liability according to fault. If you and the cross-claimant are both partly responsible, and the cross-claimant ends up paying the plaintiff, they want to recover your proportional share. Think of a multi-car collision where the injured plaintiff sues both drivers, and Driver A files a cross-claim arguing that Driver B is mostly to blame and should cover a larger slice of any damages.
Indemnity
Indemnity is more aggressive. The cross-claimant is asking the court to shift the entire loss onto you: “If I owe the plaintiff anything, it’s your fault, not mine.” Indemnity cross-claims show up often in construction defect cases, product liability chains, and anywhere a contract contains an indemnification clause. The Wex legal encyclopedia identifies indemnification as a common cross-claim because it is “inherently tied to the initial claim.”3Legal Information Institute. Wex – Cross-claim
Reading the cross-claim carefully to see which theory is in play tells you whether you are fighting over a slice of the damages or the whole pie.
Your 21-Day Clock to Respond
You have 21 days after being served with the cross-claim to file a responsive pleading. If you are the United States, a federal agency, or a federal officer sued in an official capacity, the deadline is 60 days.4Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 12 – Defenses and Objections: When and How Presented This deadline runs separately from any deadlines on the original complaint, so staying active in the main case does not protect you here.
The response is typically an answer that addresses each allegation in the cross-claim. Before answering, though, you can raise threshold defenses by motion. Rule 12 lets a cross-defendant move to dismiss on grounds including lack of jurisdiction, improper venue, defective service, and failure to state a claim.4Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 12 – Defenses and Objections: When and How Presented A motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim is a common early move because, if it works, it ends the cross-claim before discovery costs pile up.
If the cross-claim survives, you participate in discovery as a cross-defendant on top of whatever discovery you already face as an original defendant. That means written discovery responses, document production, and depositions tied to the cross-claim’s issues. Evidence and strategy will often overlap with the main case, but treat the two fights as separate: winning on the plaintiff’s claims does not automatically dispose of the cross-claim against you.
What Happens If You Ignore It
The default judgment rule applies to cross-claims the same way it applies to original complaints. Rule 55 covers any party who has “pleaded a cross-claim.”5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 55 – Default If you fail to plead or otherwise defend within the deadline, the clerk can enter a default, and the cross-claimant can move for default judgment against you.
For claims involving a sum certain, the clerk may enter judgment without a hearing. In other cases, the court holds a hearing on damages. Either way, you lose the opportunity to tell your side. Because cross-defendants are usually already deep in the main lawsuit, missing the separate cross-claim deadline is an easy mistake that can cost real money.
Can the Court Even Hear the Cross-Claim?
In federal court, the cross-claim does not need its own independent basis for jurisdiction if it is closely tied to the main case. Under 28 U.S.C. ยง 1367, a district court has supplemental jurisdiction over claims “so related to claims in the action within such original jurisdiction that they form part of the same case or controversy.”6GovInfo. 28 USC 1367 – Supplemental Jurisdiction Because Rule 13(g) already requires a cross-claim to arise from the same transaction or occurrence as the original action, most cross-claims clear this bar.
The court can still decline supplemental jurisdiction in some circumstances, including when the cross-claim raises novel or complex state law questions, when it would predominate over the original claims, or when the court has dismissed all the claims that gave it original jurisdiction.6GovInfo. 28 USC 1367 – Supplemental Jurisdiction If the court declines, the statute of limitations on the cross-claim is tolled for 30 days after dismissal, giving the cross-claimant time to refile in state court. If you believe the court lacks jurisdiction over the cross-claim against you, raise it in your responsive pleading or by pre-answer motion. State court procedures vary, but most follow the same general preference for resolving related claims in a single proceeding.
Make Sure It’s Actually a Cross-Claim
Confirm which kind of claim you are facing, because the labels get mixed up and the procedural rules differ.
A cross-claim travels between coparties on the same side of the “v.” A counterclaim goes the opposite direction, from a defendant to the plaintiff or vice versa; the federal rules specifically distinguish counterclaims (against an “opposing party”) from cross-claims (against a “coparty”).1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 13 – Counterclaim and Crossclaim A third-party claim under Rule 14 reaches outside the lawsuit entirely, pulling in a non-party the defendant believes is responsible for some or all of the plaintiff’s claim; that new arrival is a third-party defendant, not a cross-defendant.7Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 14 – Third-Party Practice If the paper you were served with comes from your opposing party rather than a coparty, or from someone outside the case altogether, you are dealing with a different animal and the strategy will differ accordingly.