(dc) District court rule. Rule 17 applies in the district courts except that the thirty-(30-) day time period in Rule 17(d) is reduced to fourteen (14) days.
Ala. R. Civ. P. 17
Note from reporter of decisions: The order amending Rules 4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 6(a), 7(b)(2), 17(a), 22(c), and 26(b), Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure, effective August 1, 2004, is published in that volume of Alabama Reporter that contains Alabama cases from __ So. 2d.
Committee Comments on 1973 Adoption
Subdivision (a). This subdivision omits the federal Rule 17(a) which deals with statutes of the United States. This subdivision specifically provides that substitution of plaintiffs in order to bring the real party in interest before the court shall have the same effect had the action been commenced in the name of the real party in interest. This, in effect, makes the doctrine in relation back of amendments changing parties applicable to plaintiffs and is the companion to similar treatment for defendants found in Rule 15.
Subdivision (b). Since capacity to sue is governed by substantive law, subdivision (b) clearly states that proposition.
This subdivision has been modified from the federal counterpart in order to conform with present Alabama practice. It is not possible in Alabama to speak in general terms about actions by and against infants in the same breath with actions by and against incompetents. This subdivision preserves the present situation wherein the action against an incompetent who has a general guardian can be maintained against the general guardian while an action against an infant who has a general guardian will still require the appointment of a guardian ad litem. Nothing in this subdivision is to be construed to alter present practice wherein an action may be maintained against an infant in his name with a prayer in the complaint for the appointment of a guardian ad litem.
Subdivision (d). This subdivision, setting out the mechanics for appointment of a guardian ad litem has no counterpart in the federal rules. But a number of states, in adapting these rules from state adoption, have thought it desirable to carry over into the rules their prior statutory provisions of the mechanics of appointment. A similar course has been followed here. The subdivision is based on the provisions as to appointment of a guardian ad litem formerly contained in Tit. 7, § 177, 180 and 181, Code 1940, which statutes are superseded by the rule.
Committee Comments to October 1, 1995, Amendment to Rule 17
The amendment changed the word "infant" in the rule to "minor." All other changes are technical. No substantive change is intended.
Committee Comments to Amendment to Rule 17(a) Effective August 1, 2004
The second paragraph of Rule 17(a), which never existed in the corresponding Federal Rule, is deleted. Subrogation (e.g., when rights of subrogation arise, and the extent of those rights) is an issue of substantive, not procedural, law. Procedural issues relating to subrogation can appropriately be decided within the confines of Rules 19 and 17(a) (first paragraph), as they are in the federal courts.