RULE 17                                                
         PARTIES PLAINTIFF AND DEFENDANT; CAPACITY                               
                                                                                 
    (-) Designation of Parties. The party commencing the action shall be         
known as the plaintiff, and the opposite party as the defendant.                 
    (a) Real Party in Interest. Every action shall be prosecuted in the          
name of the real party in interest. An executor, administrator, guardian,        
bailee, trustee of an express trust, a party with whom or in whose name a        
contract has been made for the benefit of another, or a party authorized by      
statute may sue in his own name without joining with him the party for           
whose benefit the action is brought. No action shall be dismissed on the         
ground that it is not prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest       
until a reasonable time has been allowed after objection for ratification        
of commencement of the action by, or joinder or substitution of, the real        
party in interest; and such ratification, joinder, or substitution shall         
have the same effect as if the action had been commenced in the name of the      
real party in interest.                                                          
    (b) Capacity To Sue or Be Sued. (Reserved.)                                  
    (c) Infants, or Incompetent Persons.                                         
    (1) Scope. Generally this rule does not affect statutes and rules            
concerning the capacity of infants and incompetents to sue or be sued.           
    (2) Guardian ad Litem for Infant. (Reserved. See RCW 4.08.050.)              
    (3) Guardian ad Litem for Incompetents. (Reserved. See RCW 4.08.060.)        
    (d) Actions on Assigned Choses in Action. (Reserved. See RCW 4.08.080.)      
    (e) Public Corporations.                                                     
    (1) Actions by. (Reserved. See RCW 4.08.110.)                                
    (2) Actions Against. (Reserved. See RCW 4.08.120.)                           
    (f) Tort Actions Against State. (Reserved. See RCW 4.92.)