"We have 10 defendants registered in this case, the max allowed for a lawsuit of this type."
"I'm literally driving to a meeting for all 10 defendants face-to-face as we prep them for evidence review and the attorney's interviews of them."
The defendants are the people that are being sued. The plaintiffs are the people who are suing.
Are you trying to say that you are suing 10 people? Or are you trying to say that 10 people are doing the suing? If 10 people are doing the suing, then those people are properly labeled as plaintiffs, not defendants.