Missouri Senate

Introduced

JOINDER

In a civil action where the plaintiff is injured outside of the state, claims arising out of separate purchases of the same product or separate incidents involving the same product shall not be joined regardless of whether the claims arise out of the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences with a common question of law.

In addition to current law regarding when plaintiffs and defendants may join in one civil action, this act states that in tort actions two or more plaintiffs may be joined in a single action only if each plaintiff can independently establish proper venue. Likewise, two or more defendants may be joined in a single action only if the plaintiff can establish proper venue and personal jurisdiction for each defendant individually. If in either situation proper venue and personal jurisdiction cannot be established, then the plaintiff or defendant will be deemed misjoined, the claims will be severed from the action, and the claims shall be transferred to a county with proper venue. If there is no county in Missouri in which venue exists, then the claims shall be dismissed without prejudice. The parties may only be joined when at least one claim is properly pending in the court and all of the parties have waived their objection to the misjoinder.

Two or more plaintiffs injured at the same time outside of the state as a result of a single occurrence may be joined in one action in Cole County.

VENUE

For the purposes of meeting the venue requirement, the principal place of residence for an individual whose employment conduct is at issue in the action shall be the corporation's principal place of residence. The principal place of residence for a corporation is the county where the corporation has its registered agent, or for a domestic or foreign insurance company the county where its registered office is maintained. If a foreign insurance company does not have a registered office in Missouri, then the residence of the foreign insurance company shall be Cole County.

When a defendant is a nonresident and personal jurisdiction is established, proper venue is any county in this state. When the action is alleging damages for benefits due under an insurance contract venue shall be in the county where the plaintiff was injured. In a tort claim arising from an insurance contract, the plaintiff is deemed injured in the county where he or she resided at the time of the economic damage.

Currently, a products liability order of dismissal for a defendant whose liability is based solely on his or her status as a seller shall not divest a court of venue or jurisdiction that was proper at the beginning of the action. Further, the defendant seller dismissed in the action shall remain a party to such action for venue and jurisdiction purposes. This act repeals these provisions.

This act is similar to SB 258 (2017).

JESSI JAMES