Halderman v. Pennhurst State School & School

97 F.R.D. 522, 37 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 773, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17913
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 7, 1983
DocketCiv. A. No. 74-1345
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 97 F.R.D. 522 (Halderman v. Pennhurst State School & School) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Halderman v. Pennhurst State School & School, 97 F.R.D. 522, 37 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 773, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17913 (E.D. Pa. 1983).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

RAYMOND J. BRODERICK, District Judge.

Jerry Haas, an individual who is not a party to this litigation nor a member of any organizational party to this action, has filed a motion, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 24, to intervene in this action for the purpose of correcting an alleged “factual error” contained in the appendix to the Report of the Special Master on Habilitation of Plaintiff Class Members Who Reside in Private Licensed Facilities (Dkt. No. 1738). For the reasons hereinafter set forth, the Court will deny Mr. Haas’s Motion to Intervene.

Factual Background

As is well-known to the litigants, this case involves a class action by retarded persons and their representatives seeking relief from conditions at Pennhurst State School and Hospital, which the plaintiffs alleged violated their civil rights under the Constitution, federal statutes and the Pennsylvania Mental Health/Mental Retardation Act of 1966, 50 P.S. § 4101 et seq. On December 23, 1977, this Court made findings of fact and conclusions of law in favor of the plaintiffs. On March 17, 1978, the Court entered an injunctive Order designed to provide the plaintiff class with the type of habilitation and treatment minimally required by state law and the Fourteenth Amendment. See 446 F.Supp. 1295. A major portion of this relief provides for the habilitation of class members in institutions other than Pennhurst when the planning assessment team of mental retardation professionals which drafts a habilitation plan for each class member determines, subject to appeal to the Hearing Master established by this Court pursuant to the Third Circuit’s first en banc affirmance of this Court (612 F.2d 84), that such placement is necessary to provide the class member with mini[524]*524mally adequate habilitation in the least restrictive environment.

During the summer of 1982, questions arose as to the quality of care being received by class members residing in private licensed facilities for the mentally retarded. See Report of the Hearing Master re K.K. (July 29, 1982, Dkt. No. 1526). Based on the Hearing Master’s Report and upon consideration of the plaintiffs’ request for an investigation, the Court, in its letter of August 17,1982, directed the Special Master to prepare “a report on the status of habilitation for class members in private licenses facilities.” In its Memorandum and Order of August 12, 1982, 545 F.Supp. 410 (E.D. Pa.1982), the Court had directed the Special Master to phase out operations on or before December 31, 1982. The Special Master ceased operating on December 31, but completed the Report on Private Licensed Facilities and submitted it to the Court on December 29, 1982.

The Special Master’s Report contained an appendix of some 27 pages, containing a listing of the state’s private licensed facilities, their addresses, directors, license status, and inspection status. The information contained in this portion of the appendix was supplied to the Special Master by the Commonwealth and was included in the Appendix verbatim by the Special Master. The state-provided information listed Mr. Jerry Haas as the Director of Pleasant Manor, Inc., a private licensed facility. The Special Master’s Report discussed several aspects of Pleasant Manor. Mr. Haas alleges that he was subsequently contacted by the Philadelphia Inquirer and asked for his response to the Report, and that he informed the reporter that he was no longer Director of Pleasant Manor, and had not been Director during the time period addressed by the Special Master’s Report. Mr. Haas subsequently filed the instant motion seeking leave to intervene to have his name deleted from the Appendix.

No party to this action has questioned Mr. Haas’s representation that he was not connected with Pleasant Manor at the time of the Special Master’s inspection. Mr. Haas states that he has been wronged by the error contained in the Appendix to the Report. However, any equities in his favor do not, under the circumstances of this protracted litigation, justify his intervention in the proceedings.

Intervention Under Federal Rule 24

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24 provides, in pertinent part,

(a) Intervention of 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 applicant claims an interest relating to the property or transaction which is the subject of the action and he is so situated that the disposition of the action may as a practical matter impair or impede his ability to protect that interest, unless the applicant’s interest is adequately represented by existing parties.
(b) Permissive Intervention. Upon timely application anyone may be permitted to intervene in an action: (1) when a statute of the United States confers a conditional right to intervene; or (2) when an applicant’s claim or defense and the main action have a question of law or fact in common. When a party to an action relies for ground of claim or defense upon any statute or executive order administered by a federal or state government officer or agency or upon any regulation, order, requirement or agreement issued or made pursuant to the statute or executive order, the officer or agency upon timely application may be permitted to intervene in the action. In exercising its discretion the court shall consider whether the intervention will unduly delay or prejudice the adjudication of the rights of the original parties.

Mr. Haas has not- directed this Court’s attention to any U.S. statute that confers either an unconditional or a conditional right for him to intervene. Furthermore, the Court, upon investigation, has found no such applicable federal statute. In his petition, Mr. Haas has not averred that he has a property or transactional in[525]*525terest in the subject matter of this case that he will be unable to protect if he is not permitted to intervene in this action. Thus, Mr. Haas is clearly not entitled to intervention as a matter of right.

Even under the more liberal standards of Fed.R.Civ.P. 24(b), authorizing the Court to exercise its discretion to grant permissive intervention, Mr. Haas has not set forth a sufficient reason for such intervention. His claim—that his name was erroneously included in the state-provided Appendix to the Special Master’s Report— has nothing legally or factually in common with the main action in this case—the deprivation of the civil rights of the plaintiff class. Mr. Haas is not affiliated with the government, so the portion of Rule 24(b) permitting intervention for government officials and agencies does not apply to him. Therefore, Mr. Haas has not brought forth any basis upon which this Court should permit his intervention.

Intervention by Mr. Haas would create issues which bear no relevancy to claims of the parties in this complex litigation. This Court, if it permitted Mr. Haas to intervene, would be required to let anyone upset with the content of any pleading, transcript, or report in this case intervene and seek amendment of such documents. Nearly two thousand documents have been docketed thus far in this case.

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Related

Halderman v. Pennhurst State School & Hospital
610 F. Supp. 1221 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1985)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
97 F.R.D. 522, 37 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 773, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17913, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/halderman-v-pennhurst-state-school-school-paed-1983.