Cross Claim in the United States

A secondary claim filed by parties on the same side of a legal action. A cross claim is brought by a co-plaintiff or co-defendant. This claim is separate from the overarching claim against the party on the opposing side of the main litigation. A cross claim must directly relate to a substantial issue contained in the original and larger action or a counter claim based on it.

Analysis and Relevance

A cross claim turns a legal action into essentially a three-sided suit. It allows a co-defendant to assert a claim against another co-defendant in an effort to place part or all of the liability on the second defendant. For example, if an airline files an action against a contractor and one of its sub-contractors because of a defect in a plane it purchased, the contractor may wish to file a cross claim against the sub-contractor in an effort to demonstrate full responsibility resides with the sub-contractor. Both the contractor and sub-contractor are defendants to the initial action, but within that suit, they are contesting through a cross claim. A cross claim differs from a counter claim. In the former, claims are litigated by parties on the same side of the principal lawsuit, while the latter is litigated between the parties contesting the original litigation. A cross claim may also be called a cross complaint.

Notes and References

Definition of Cross Claim from the American Law Dictionary, 1991, California

Cross-Claim Definition

Cross-Complaint in this Legal Encyclopedia
Cross-Complaint definition in the Law Dictionary

Cross-Claim in Foreign Legal Encyclopedias

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Cross-Claim	Cross-Claim in the World Legal Encyclopedia.
Cross-Claim	Cross-Claim in the European Legal Encyclopedia.
Cross-Claim	Cross-Claim in the Asian Legal Encyclopedia.
Cross-Claim	Cross-Claim in the UK Legal Encyclopedia.
Cross-Claim	Cross-Claim in the Australian Legal Encyclopedia.

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Cross-Claim	Cross-Claim in the Family Law Portal of the American Encyclopedia of Law.
Cross-Claim	Cross-Claim in the IP Portal of the American Encyclopedia of Law.
Cross-Claim	Cross-Claim in the Commercial Law Portal of the American Encyclopedia of Law.
Cross-Claim	Cross-Claim in the Criminal Law Portal of the American Encyclopedia of Law.
Cross-Claim	Cross-Claim in the Antritrust Portal of the American Encyclopedia of Law.
Cross-Claim	Cross-Claim in the Bankruptcy Law Portal of the American Encyclopedia of Law.
Cross-Claim	Cross-Claim in the Constitutional Law Portal of the American Encyclopedia of Law.
Cross-Claim	Cross-Claim in the Tax Law Portal of the American Encyclopedia of Law.
Cross-Claim	Cross-Claim in the and Finance and Banking Portal of the American Encyclopedia of Law.
Cross-Claim	Cross-Claim in the Employment and Labor Portal of the American Encyclopedia of Law.
Cross-Claim	Cross-Claim in the Personal Injury and Tort Portal of the American Encyclopedia of Law.
Cross-Claim	Cross-Claim in the Environmental Law Portal of the American Encyclopedia of Law.

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Meaning of Cross-claim

In plain or simple terms, Cross-claim means: In a civil proceeding, if there are two or more defendants, one defendant can raise a claim against another defendant.

Cross-Claim