Legal Definitions - codefendant

A codefendant is an individual or entity who, along with one or more other individuals or entities, is named as a defendant in the same legal case. This can occur in either a civil lawsuit, where multiple parties are accused of causing harm, or in a criminal prosecution, where multiple individuals are charged with committing the same crime. Essentially, when a legal action targets more than one party for the same alleged wrongdoing, those parties are considered codefendants.

Here are some examples to illustrate the concept of a codefendant:

• Civil Lawsuit - Construction Defect: Imagine a homeowner discovers significant structural defects in their newly built house. They believe the problem stems from both the original construction company's poor workmanship and the architectural firm's faulty design. If the homeowner files a single lawsuit naming both the construction company and the architectural firm as responsible parties, then the construction company and the architectural firm would be considered codefendants. They are both defending themselves against the homeowner's claims within the same civil action.

• Criminal Case - Conspiracy: Consider a situation where two individuals, Sarah and Mark, are accused of conspiring to commit fraud. The prosecution gathers evidence suggesting they both actively participated in planning and executing the fraudulent scheme. When the prosecutor files charges against both Sarah and Mark for the same crime of conspiracy, they become codefendants in the criminal case. They will face the charges together, within the same legal proceedings, even if their specific roles in the alleged crime differed.

• Civil Lawsuit - Environmental Damage: Suppose a local community suffers from severe water pollution, and investigations point to two different factories located upstream as potential sources of the contamination. If the community group files a lawsuit seeking damages and an injunction against both Factory A and Factory B for causing the environmental harm, then Factory A and Factory B would be codefendants. They are both defending against the community's claims related to the same environmental issue in a single lawsuit.