Joint Liability

Joint liability denotes the obligation of two or more partners to pay back a debt or be responsible for satisfying a liability. A joint liability allows parties to share the risks associated with taking on debt and to protect themselves in the event of lawsuits. An individual subject to joint liability may be referred to as "jointly liable."

A joint liability for a debt is the result of two or more parties applying jointly for credit as co-borrowers, which is implied in a general partnership. Under the regulations of a general partnership, any partner entering into a contract with or without the knowledge of other partners automatically binds all partners to that contract. If a court finds that a partnership is a fault in a lawsuit then every partner is responsible for paying any monetary legal liability or compensation. As such, any partner entering a joint liability agreement should be aware that they too are liable for the actions of each and every other partner as it pertains to the partnership.

An example of joint liability would be when spouses both sign for a loan. Should one spouse die, the other remains liable for the balance of the loan as a co-signer. However, this is contingent upon default by the borrower.

With joint liability, creditors may sue once for any debt. In the case of partnerships, creditors tend to choose the one with the deepest pockets or the most likely to pay, as they cannot pursue additional amounts from other partners.

Several liability (or proportionate liability) is when all parties are liable for just their own respective obligations. In effect, it is the opposite of joint liability. An example would be if several business partners took out a loan for their business under the arrangement that each partner was responsible for their own share (severally liable). In such a case, if one partner did not meet their obligation under the loan then the lender would only be able to sue the one partner for failure to meet their obligation. Several liability is often used in syndicated loan agreements.

When partners have joint and several liability for a debt a creditor may sue any one partner for repayment. It is a variation of joint liability.  If one partner pays the debt then that partner may pursue other partners to collect their share of the debt obligation. In short, it is the responsibility of defendants to sort out and reconcile their separate shares of liability and payments.