• New York law sets the criteria for joining cases.Legal Law Justice image by Stacey Alexander from Fotolia.com
  
  The New York Civil Practice and Law Rules promulgates court procedure for all civil law suits heard in New York courts. Article 6 of the New York Civil Practice and Law Rules (CPLR) expressly deals with consolidation and joinder, instances where related cases must be joined and heard together by the court.
  
  

Related Case Requirements

• In New York, cases are considered related and can be consolidated if both actions have a common question, the issue at hand involves the same transaction or occurrence or the same parties are involved but in another matter. When these situations exist the court may order a joint trial or have the actions consolidated for efficiency. However, if it is in the interest of justice or efficiency to keep the cases, or any issues in the cases, severed, the courts can order a trial on these separate issues before going forth with the consolidated case.
  
  

Joinder

• Joinder can be compulsory or permissive. Compulsory joinder is required and occurs when the party to be joined must be involved; otherwise the court cannot grant complete relief. Additionally, if the absent parties' interest may be harmed if they are not joined, joinder is also compulsory. Permissive joinder, on the other hand, is not required but permitted. If joining the absent party is not indispensable, but the cases are still related, joinder is permissible, meaning permitted, at the parties' requests.
  
  

Jurisdiction Considerations

• If the related cases are pending in different courts, one of the cases will be moved to the other court where the actions will then be consolidated. Judges in each case can also, in their complete discretion, decide which court is best suited to hear the joined cases. When deciding which court to use, the courts must consider jurisdictional rights, the convenience of all parties and the interests of justice.
  
  

Other Considerations

• Case relation can also be a litigation defense in New York through New York's Civil Practice Law Rule 3211. For example, a party can move to have a case dismissed on a Motion to Dismiss on the grounds that a necessary party to the action is not joined. That is, a party that should be in the law suit is not and the court should dismiss the case as a result. Similarly, a case may be dismissed because a case that is similar or related is in another court already and the current case at hand should be merged into the outstanding case. Additionally, these defenses are never waived and can be raised at any time during litigation and by either party or the judge.