# Joint and Several Liability

> A legal rule allowing a plaintiff to recover the full amount of damages from any one defendant, regardless of that defendant's proportionate share of fault.

**Category:** Legal Theory
**Canonical URL:** https://drugsmonitor.com/glossary/joint-and-several-liability
**Last updated:** 2026-06-11

Joint and several liability can be important in pharmaceutical cases where multiple parties (manufacturer, distributor, pharmacy, prescriber) may share responsibility. The plaintiff can collect the entire judgment from the party most able to pay.

Many states have modified or abolished joint and several liability, replacing it with several (proportionate) liability where each defendant pays only their share of fault. The rules vary by state and by the type of damages involved.

In federal MDLs, the court applies the choice-of-law rules of the state where the plaintiff's case originated, which can affect whether joint and several liability applies. This is one of many reasons state-specific legal advice is important.

---

*Glossary entry from DrugsMonitor.com.*