Definition
Suit to determine title.
Suit by person holding property claimed by two or more persons.
Statutory Definition
Order XXXV CPC.
Etymology & Origin
From 'interplead', meaning to plead between others. The plaintiff steps back and asks the rival claimants to plead 'between' themselves to settle who owns the property.
Full Legal Analysis
An Interpleader Suit is a special type of civil lawsuit filed by a person (the stakeholder) who is in possession of money, goods, or property but claims no personal right or interest in it. The problem is that two or more other people are aggressively claiming ownership of that property from the stakeholder.
Instead of risking giving the property to the wrong person and getting sued by the other, the stakeholder files an interpleader suit, deposits the property/money with the court, and essentially says: 'I don't own this, you two fight it out among yourselves, and tell me who to give it to.'
Common examples include a bank holding funds in an account where two partners of a dissolved firm both claim sole access, or a railway authority holding goods claimed by both the sender and the receiver.
Courts have reiterated that a tenant cannot generally file an interpleader suit against their landlord (due to tenant estoppel), but may do so if a third party claims title through the landlord after the tenancy was created.
For advocates representing neutral stakeholders (like escrow agents or banks), filing an interpleader suit is the safest strategy to wash their hands of a bitter title dispute while recovering their legal costs from the deposited fund.
This Term in Indian Statutes
Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, 1908
"Where two or more persons claim adversely to one another... the person claiming no interest therein may institute a suit of interpleader."
The substantive right to seek judicial protection when caught between rival claimants.
