Allen v. County School Board of Prince Edward County

28 F.R.D. 358, 4 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 441, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5299
District Court, E.D. Virginia·Decided June 14, 1961·No. Civ. A. No. 1333·Published·Cited by 16 cases

Opinion

LEWIS, District Judge.

The United States seeks to intervene as a party plaintiff in the above captioned matter. A better understanding of the question now before the Court necessitates a brief history of the main action.

In compliance with the decision rendered in Brown v. Board of Education, 1955, 349 U.S. 294, 75 S.Ct. 753, 99 L.Ed. 1083, an order was entered in this suit under date of November 26,1958, providing, among other things, that the defendants proceed promptly with the formulation of a plan to comply with the order of this Court heretofore entered enjoining them from discriminating against the plaintiffs in admission to the public schools of the County solely on account of race. Said defendants were further directed to report to the Court on or before January 1, 1959, the progress made in the formulation of such plan and were further directed to comply with the terms of the injunction heretofore entered commencing with the opening of the school year 1965.

The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit under date of May 5, 1959, 266 F.2d 507, reversed this Court and remanded the case, with directions to issue an order in accordance with that opinion, which provided, among other things, that the defendants be enjoined from any action that regulates or affects on the basis of color the enrollment or education of the infant plaintiffs, .or any other Negro children similarly situated, to the high schools operated by the defendants in the County, and to take immediate steps in this regard to the end that the applications be considered so as to permit the entrance of qualified persons into the white schools in the school term beginning September 1959. No decree was entered pursuant to the mandate of the Court of Appeals until the petitioners presented an appropriate order for entry therein on April 22, 1960, pertinent portions of said order being:

“The defendants are restrained and enjoined from any action that regulates or affects on the basis of race or color the admission, enrollment or education of the infant plaintiffs, or any other Negro chil[360] dren similarly situated, to the high schools operated by the defendants in the County and that the defendants receive and consider the applications of such persons for admission to such high schools without regard to race or color.
“That the defendants make plans for the admission of pupils in the elementary schools of the County without regard to race or color and to receive and consider applications to this end at the earliest practical day.”

The Court and all counsel of record had knowledge of the fact that the public schools of Prince Edward County were closed prior to the entry of the said order.

Under date of July 8, 1960, counsel for the plaintiffs filed a motion to intervene additional plaintiffs; a motion for leave to file a supplemental complaint and to add additional defendants; to all of which motions the defendants objected. On September 16, 1960, the said motions were granted. By consent decree, the time for the filing of responsive pleadings to the supplemental complaint was extended to October 24, 1960.

The defendants filed motions to dismiss the supplemental complaint. Prior to the hearing of said motions, the plaintiffs on January 13, 1961, filed a motion for leave to amend their supplemental complaint and to add the Board of Supervisors of Prince Edward County and J. W. Wilson, Jr., Treasurer of Prince Edward County, as additional defendants.

Upon consideration of the said motions the Court under date of April 24, 1961, granted plaintiffs leave to amend their supplemental complaint and to add the Board of Supervisors of Prince Edward County and J. W. Wilson, Jr., Treasurer of Prince Edward County, as additional defendants. The order fixed May 1, 1961, as the last date for the plaintiffs to offer any further amendments to their pleadings and as the last date for the defendants to file any motions in response thereto. The hearing of the motions thus filed was set for May 8, 1961.

Under date of April 26, 1961, the United States, by Robert F. Kennedy, Attorney General, and Joseph S. Bambacus, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, moved the Court for leave to intervene as a plaintiff in this action and to file a complaint in intervention, and to add as parties defendant the Prince Edward School Foundation, a corporation, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Sydney C. Day, Jr., Comptroller of Virginia.

The United States, in support of its motion to intervene, alleges that intervention

“is necessary in order to prevent the circumvention and nullification of the prior orders of this Court and to safeguard the due administration of justice and the integrity of the judicial processes of the United States.
“The claim of the United States, as set forth in the complaint in intervention, involves questions of both law and fact in common with those raised by the amended supplemental complaint filed by the plaintiffs herein.”

The motion was made under and pursuant to Sections 309 and 316, Title 5 U.S.C.A., and Rule 24 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A. The United States requested a hearing, on its motion to intervene, on May 8,1961. The motion was then heard.

All of the defendants to this suit and the additional parties sought to be made defendants objected to the intervention of the United States as a party plaintiff. The plaintiffs supported the Government’s position. The matter was fully and ably argued by counsel for all parties and the written briefs have been carefully considered by the Court.

Rule 24 of the Rules of Civil Procedure provides for intervention of right and permissive intervention.

[361] Rule 24. (a) “Intervention Right. Upon timely application anyone shall be permitted to intervene in an action: (1) when a statute of the United States confers an unconditional right to intervene; or (2) when the representation of the applicant’s interest by existing parties is or may be inadequate and the applicant is or may be bound by a judgment in the action; or (3) when the applicant is so situated as to be adversely affected by a distribution or other disposition of property which is in the custody or subject to the control or disposition of the court or an officer thereof.” of

It is therefore necessary to first determine whether or not the United States, as a matter of right, may intervene in this suit as a party plaintiff. If it has such a right, its application therefor must be “timely” filed; the rule specifically so provides. The able Assistant Attorney General of the United States, both in his oral argument and in his written brief, totally ignored this requirement of the rule. The Government offered no excuse or extenuating circumstances justifying a delay of more than a year in the filing of the Government’s motion in intervention.1

In view of the necessity of scheduling an early hearing on the merits of the plaintiff’s amended supplemental complaint and the unexplained delay on the part of the Government in filing its motion in intervention, there is a serious question in the Court’s mind as to whether or not the motion was “timely” filed.

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Allen v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, 28 F.R.D. 358, 4 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 441, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5299 (E.D. Va. 1961).

28 F.R.D. 358 (Allen v. County School Board of Prince Edward County) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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