1. A legal procedure by which a defendant brings a third party into a lawsuit, claiming that party is liable for all or part of the plaintiff's claim.
Usage: legal/formal; primarily used in civil litigation

Examples

• The defendant filed an impleader against the insurance company, arguing it should cover the damages.
• Through impleader, the contractor brought the subcontractor into the dispute.
• The court allowed the impleader because the third party's liability was directly related to the original claim.
• Impleader is a common procedural tool in construction defect cases.
• The defendant's impleader strategy shifted some of the financial responsibility to another party.