Tip #154 - How To Add A Third-Party Action To Your Case

In a third-party action, a defendant sues an entity not being sued by the plaintiff. This occurs when that entity may be liable to the defendant for all or part of the plaintiff's claim. A common example of a third-party action is an action for indemnity or contribution. You can enter a third-party action in SmartAdvocate. Here’s how:

1. Go to the summary page under the defendant’s tab on the left menu and click on the “Summary” tab. The current “main” defendant(s) will be displayed.

2. Click the “Add Third Party Action” button

3. Enter the Third-Party Plaintiff Details  (if the Law Firm or the Attorney does not exist in the database, you will be able to add those contacts at this point)

• Select Third-Party Plaintiff(s) from list of current defendant(s)

• Law Firm  

• Attorney
   

4. Enter the Third-Party Defendant Details (You will be able to add Defendant’s Name, Law Firm, Attorney, Insurance Company and Adjuster if that information is not in the database)

• Defendant’s name  

• Law Firm  

• Attorney  

• Law Firm File #

• Index #

• Insurance Co.  

• Adjuster

• Claim #

5. Click the “Save” button to save the Third-Party-Action information. The main Summary Screen of the case will show an appropriate flag to indicate the existence of a Counter Claim/Third-Party Action.