Magnet Bank, F.S.B. v. Barnette

In this appeal, the defendants and third-party plaintiffs assert that the trial court erred in dismissing their complaint. The basis for the trial court’s dismissal was that the third-party complaint was unrelated to the matters arising out of the original complaint. The court concluded that the third-party complaint did not meet the criteria of Rule 14 of the West Virginia Rules of Civil Procedure, which governs third-party actions. We disagree.

Rule 14(a) permits a defendant to bring a third-party complaint against “a person not a party to the action who is or may be liable to him for all or…