12407. Additional Parties

(a) If a party is added to an arbitration after the Director sends the lists generated by the Neutral List Selection System to the parties, but before parties must return the ranked lists to the Director, the Director will send the lists to the newly added party, with employment history for the past 10 years and other background information for each arbitrator listed. The newly added party may rank and strike the arbitrators in accordance with Rule 12404. If the newly added party returns the lists within 20 days after the date upon which the Director sent the lists to the party, the Director will include the new party's lists when combining rankings under Rule 12405. If the Director does not receive the list within that time, the Director will proceed as though the party did not want to strike any arbitrator or have any preference among the listed arbitrators.

(b) Once the ranked lists are due to the Director under Rule 12404, no party may amend a pleading to add a new party to the arbitration until a panel is appointed and grants a motion to add the party. Motions to add a party must be served on all parties, including the party to be added, and the party to be added may respond to the motion in accordance with Rule 12503 without waiving any rights or objections under the Code. If the panel grants the motion to add the party, the newly added party may not strike and rank the arbitrators, but may challenge an arbitrator for cause in accordance with Rule 12410.