Lawyer dispels doubts: Does the plaintiff have the right to list "the third party"?

People all know that there are plaintiff and defendant in the lawsuit, and sometimes there is a role called the third party. The third party in law is divided into the third party with independent claim and the third party without independent claim. For example, Zhang San and Li Si filed a lawsuit on the ownership of houses. Wu Wang claimed that the disputed house was his, and Wu Wang was the third person with independent claim. A Mr. Wang went to the court to file a case and told the judge of the court to ask Mr. Wang to re-write the complaint on the grounds that the plaintiff could not list a third person in the complaint. When the case came to the trial court, the presiding judge asked the plaintiff to write a new complaint on the grounds that there was no third party listed. Here we can't help but ask, does the plaintiff have the right to list a third person? According to the first paragraph of Article 16 of the Interpretation of the Supreme Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the Contract Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), Pan Qiang, a plaintiff in Wu Miao, is legally listed as a third party: if the creditor files a subrogation lawsuit with the sub-debtor as the defendant in the people's court and the debtor is not listed as a third party, the people's court may add the debtor as a third party. Conversely, it can be seen that the plaintiff has the right to list a third person. Practically speaking, the purpose of the third party's intervention in litigation is to facilitate the determination of the facts of the case. The original and defendant take the initiative to list names or add a third person, which is conducive to quickly finding out the facts of the case, facilitating the litigation of the parties and improving the efficiency of handling cases. The court takes the initiative to inform the third party to participate in the proceedings, which can only be determined after the court knows the case, which will inevitably lead to many court sessions, which violates the principle of efficiency. Of course, if the third person listed by the plaintiff is improper, the court can completely turn a blind eye, because the judge of the court of first instance can completely disagree with the third person to participate in the lawsuit or decide not to let the third person bear the responsibility. Nan Baolong, director of the research office of Hongqiao District Court, only stressed that one of the ways in which the right to appeal may lead to the participation of a third party across the board is court notice, including two situations: first, the plaintiff or defendant filed an application, and after the court ruled, the third party was notified to participate in the lawsuit; Second, the court decided to add a third person to participate in the proceedings ex officio. Both the application by the parties and the addition by the court ex officio shall be strictly restricted, and the rights or powers shall not be abused. The fundamental standard of whether the third party needs to participate in litigation should be found in substantive law, and procedural law can do nothing about it. If we use litigation rights instead of substantive rights to explain whether the parties have the right to list the third party, it will simplify the problem and infringe on the interests of the third party. Cui Huaqiang, director of the teaching and research section of Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, believes that in the judicial practice of civil litigation, the plaintiff does not need to be listed. Sometimes, the parties directly list the third person in the indictment when filing a case, and take the initiative to introduce others outside the case into the lawsuit. In this regard, China's civil procedure law and related judicial interpretations do not clearly stipulate that the parties can enjoy this right. Article 56 of China's Civil Procedure Law stipulates that if a third party thinks that it has an independent claim, it has the right to bring a lawsuit. Although a third party has no independent claim to the litigation object of both parties, but has a legal interest in the outcome of the case, it may apply to participate in the litigation, or be notified by the people's court to participate in the litigation. It can be seen that there are two kinds of third parties in civil litigation: the third party with independent claim and the third party without independent claim. The former actively joined the lawsuit. In this case, the plaintiff took the initiative to list a third person in the complaint. The latter actively or passively participates in the litigation, that is, the court decides whether to allow or directly decides and informs the plaintiff to participate in the litigation, and there is no case where the plaintiff is listed as a third party or applies for adding a third party. Therefore, the law does not give the parties the right to list the third party in the process of filing a case.