Court Opinion

ID: 9742623
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:17:07.471936+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:34.211240
License: Public Domain

ROBB, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. The majority cites to the following provision of Trial Rule 17: "No action shall be dismissed on the ground that it is not prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest until a reasonable time after objection has been allowed for the real party in interest to ratify the action, or to be joined or substituted in the action." T.R. 17(A); see op. at 10831. The majority then relies on Trial Rule 12(B)(6) in concluding that the trial court erred in granting judgment to Gif-ford because the Commissioner of Labor, as the real party in interest, did not ratify, substitute or join the action. Op. at 1031. However, the record does not reflect that E & L objected in the trial court to Gif-ford's status as the real party in interest, nor that the Commissioner of Labor was ever informed of the pending action such that he could choose to ratify or join the action. As such, I do not believe that a Trial Rule 12(B)(6) dismissal is appropriate in this case. Despite our standard of review, and in light of Trial Rule 17, it was still E & L's obligation in the trial court to make an objection to Gifford's status, which it did not do. Its failure to do so raises the problem created by Trial Rule 17 which precludes dismissal. Accordingly, I dissent from the reversal of the trial court's judgment.