For example, if a plaintiff sues a homeowner for damages caused by a garage door, the defendant homeowner could add a third party, the manufacturer of the garage door to contribute to any damages awarded to the plaintiff according to the proportionate share of responsibility, liability, or fault assigned to the homeowner and the manufacturer by the jury.
In most cases, contribution claims are brought like the original lawsuit itself.
In contrast, a counter-claim asserts that the party (usually a defendant) is entitled to offset the damages awarded to plaintiff by the proportionate share of any responsibility, liability, or fault assigned to the plaintiff by the jury.
Counter-claims and cross claims do not require personal service because no new parties are being added to the lawsuit.
In some state court systems, a contribution claim must be opened as a new case, and thus the defendant must pay for a filing fee, docket number, or index number.