OPINION AND ORDER

MYRON H. THOMPSON, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on defendant Anthony Thomas's motion to add Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as a party. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 14(h) provides for joinder of additional parties to a crossclaim or counterclaim, by application of the required and permissive joinder rules. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 19 & 20. Defendant filed a document labelled "Third Party Crossclaims" (doc. no. 1-4) setting forth his claims against Wells Fargo, and Wells Fargo filed an answer to the document without objecting to its joinder as a party. Furthermore, counsel for plaintiff Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation and Wells Fargo has confirmed verbally that they do not oppose the motion. Therefore, the court assumes that joinder is permissible under the rules, and will grant the motion the motion to add Wells Fargo as a party.

However, the court will add Wells Fargo as a counter-defendant, not a cross-defendant. While defendant labelled the claims against Wells Fargo as `third party crossclaims,' defendant's claims against Wells Fargo are not crossclaims under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.* See 6 Fed. Prac. & Proc. Civ. § 1431 (3d ed.) ("Clearly, a crossclaim may not be asserted against a party on the opposite side of the action.[] A claim of this type is a counterclaim and is governed by Rule 13(a) or Rule 13(b) depending on whether it is compulsory or permissive.[]" (footnotes omitted)). Furthermore, with one exception, defendant's claims against Wells Fargo are the same as his counterclaims against plaintiff.† Accordingly, the court will refer to defendant's claims against Wells Fargo as counterclaims.

* * *

Accordingly, it is ORDERED that:

(1) The motion to add Wells Fargo (doc. no. 1-3) is granted.

(2) Wells Fargo is added as a counter-defendant.

(3) Should the parties disagree with the designation of Wells Fargo as a counter-defendant, they must object within seven days of the date of this order.