Also known as: party opponent · party-opponents · parties opponent · opposing party · adverse party
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A litigant on the opposite side of a lawsuit from the party offering evidence or asserting a claim. The designation determines whether statements qualify as nonhearsay and whether procedural obligations such as counterclaim pleading or discovery compliance attach.
Preston Pratt sued Paragon Construction for breach of a construction contract. Paragon answered and asserted a claim for unpaid change orders arising from the same project. Because the claim arose out of the transaction that formed the subject matter of Preston's complaint, Paragon properly pleaded it against its party-opponent.
Pedro Pacheco testified for the defense. On cross-examination the prosecutor asked about an earlier written statement without first showing it to him. The rule permitted the inquiry because the prosecutor needed only to disclose the statement to the party-opponent's attorney upon request.
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Pavel Petrov served broad document requests on Platinum Partners seeking every internal email for five years. The requests lacked any reasonable connection to the pleaded issues. Serving them violated the duty not to impose frivolous discovery burdens on a party-opponent.
Patrick Phan, acting as property manager for Peak Performance, secretly negotiated to buy one of the company's buildings through an LLC he controlled. Because he dealt with his principal as an adverse party without disclosure, the transaction breached his duty to the party-opponent principal.
Corporate counsel interviewed mid-level employees at Patriot Insurance to investigate potential regulatory violations. The employees' statements to counsel were protected because they were made at the direction of superiors for the purpose of obtaining legal advice in anticipation of litigation against the party-opponent regulator.
Phuong Pham moved for summary judgment on her contract claim against Peter Park. Peter responded by pointing out that Phuong's cited materials failed to negate a genuine dispute over the date of performance. The court denied the motion because the party-opponent had shown that admissible evidence could support the disputed fact.
A statement is admissible as nonhearsay when offered against an opposing party and made by the party in an individual or representative capacity, or by an agent or employee within the scope of the relationship. The statement need not have been against interest when made and the declarant need not be unavailable.
Yes. A party must plead as a counterclaim any claim against an opposing party that arises out of the same transaction or occurrence as the opposing party's claim, provided jurisdiction exists. Failure to do so may bar the claim in a later action.
An agent owes a duty not to deal with the principal as an adverse party in a transaction connected with the agency without the principal's knowledge. The principal is treated as the party-opponent in such a transaction, triggering disclosure obligations.
…it was derived by the scientific method enables a party to establish a prima facie case as to admissibility under Rule 702. The opposing party would then be entitled to challenge that showing. This it could do by presenting evidence (including expert testimony) that the proposing party's expert employed unsound methodology or…