Joseph R. Biden, I I I, the Attorney General etc. v. John S. Lord, Herbert H. Peyton

147 So. 3d 632
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedSeptember 22, 2014
Docket1D13-5053
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 147 So. 3d 632 (Joseph R. Biden, I I I, the Attorney General etc. v. John S. Lord, Herbert H. Peyton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Joseph R. Biden, I I I, the Attorney General etc. v. John S. Lord, Herbert H. Peyton, 147 So. 3d 632 (Fla. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinions

CORRECTED OPINION

ROWE, J.

We deny Appellant’s motion for rehearing and request for the certification of a question of great public importance. We grant Appellant’s motion for a corrected opinion, withdraw our original opinion dated July 16, 2014, and substitute this corrected opinion.

Joseph R. Biden, III, as the Attorney General of Delaware, challenges the trial court’s order denying his post-judgment motion to intervene in a case where final judgment was entered in 2004. Because he has failed to show that the trial court abused its discretion, we affirm.

Factual Background

In 1935, Alfred I. duPont died as a resident and citizen of Duval County, Florida. Mr. duPont’s will established a testamentary trust and required it to be administered under Florida law and subject to the jurisdiction of Florida courts. The Trust provided for the creation of a charitable organization known as “The Nem-ours Foundation.” The purpose of the foundation was for the care and treatment of “crippled children, but not incurables, or the care of old men or old women, and particularly old couples, first consideration, in each instance, being given to beneficiaries who are residents of Delaware.... ” In 1971, the Trustees filed a lawsuit seeking judicial guidance in interpreting this purpose. The Delaware Attorney General was not a party to the litigation. The Duval County Circuit Court entered a judgment defining the term “crippled children” to include “persons under 21 years [635]*635of age, who by reason of a physical defect or infirmity, whether congenital or acquired by accident, injury or disease, has been deprived of strength, activity or capability for service or use, in any part of the human body.”

In 1977, multiple lawsuits involving the Trust were filed, including a lawsuit between the Trustees. This Court affirmed the circuit court’s denial of the Delaware Attorney General’s motion to intervene in that action. Del. ex rel. Gebelein v. Fla. First Nat’l Bank, 381 So.2d 1075, 1078 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979). The Delaware Attorney General also filed his own lawsuit against the Trust. In 1980, the Trustees, Nemours, the Florida Attorney General, the Delaware Attorney General, and the Florida State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit entered into a stipulation to resolve all pending lawsuits. The stipulation named the Florida Attorney General as the representative of the “ultimate” charitable beneficiaries of the Trust and named the Delaware Attorney General as the representative of the Delaware charitable beneficiaries. The parties acknowledged that the Trust was governed by Florida law, and the stipulation incorporated the definition of “crippled children” set forth in the 1971 judgment. Moreover, the Delaware Attorney General, the Florida Attorney General, and the Florida State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit were tasked with “closely observing] the operations and activities of the Trust.” The circuit court entered a final judgment adopting and incorporating the terms of the stipulations.

In 1984, Alfred duPont Dent, as a trustee, filed a lawsuit against the other trustees to increase the trustee fee. Dent lost the case; Delaware was not a party to this action. In 1998, the Trustees sought judicial modification of the Trust. Delaware had notice of this action and elected not to participate.

In 2004, the Trustees filed an action to modify the Trust, and the Florida State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit and Nemours were the named defendants. The result of this litigation was a 2004 final judgment that redefined “crippled children” as “persons under 18 years of age,” although it provided that existing beneficiaries would not be affected by this change. The judgment expanded the Trust’s purpose to include preventative care services for beneficiaries of the Trust. The judgment also required the Trustees to distribute three percent of the fair market value of the Trust every year, even if such distribution required taking part of the principal. Delaware was not a party to this action, but the uncontroverted evidence demonstrates that the Delaware Attorney General was made aware of Nem-ours’ planned expansion into preventative care services in 2004. The 2004 judgment resulted in more than $111 million in preventative care services being provided to the Delaware beneficiaries.

In 2012, the Delaware Attorney General filed a post-judgment motion to intervene as an indispensable party and to set aside the 2004 final judgment. The trial court denied the motion, finding that the original parties to the action would be injured by the intervention and that the interests of justice would not be served by intervention. The trial court also found that the Delaware Attorney General was not an indispensable party to the 2004 action. This timely appeal follows.

Intervention

The sole issue before this Court is whether the trial court properly denied the motion to intervene. A trial court’s denial of a motion to intervene will not be reversed absent a showing of an abuse of [636]*636discretion. Litvak v. Scylla Props., LLC, 946 So.2d 1165, 1172 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006).

After final judgment, intervention is not generally permitted. Dickinson v. Segal, 219 So.2d 435, 436 (Fla.1969); PS Capital, LLC v. Palm Springs Town Homes, LLC, 9 So.3d 643, 645 (Fla. 3d DCA 2009) (“ [intervention after judgment ... is extraordinary and disfavored.”). However, a very narrow exception to the general rule permits post-judgment intervention “when to do so would in no way injuriously affect the original litigants and when allowing intervention will further the interests of justice.” Lewis v. Turlington, 499 So.2d 905, 907-08 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986). Accordingly, in order for the Delaware Attorney General to be permitted to intervene in the 2004 action, the trial court was required to find (1) that intervention would not injuriously affect the original litigants and (2) that intervention would serve the interests of justice. The record does not support such findings, and the trial court did not err by denying the motion to intervene.

The Delaware Attorney General failed to demonstrate that post-judgment intervention would in no way injure the original litigants to the 2004 action. In Interest of M.L.M., 528 So.2d 54, 56 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988) (holding that the exception allowing post-judgment intervention exists only “where intervention would in no way injuriously effect the original litigants .... ”). If the Delaware Attorney General were permitted to intervene and set aside the 2004 judgment, the original litigants would be injured in several respects.1 First, the preventative program that was put into place as a result of the 2004 judgment would no longer be authorized under the terms of the unmodified Trust. Second, vacating the 2004 judgment would radically alter the provision of care to trust beneficiaries because the preventative programs would cease to exist. Third, vacating the 2004 judgment would result in the invalidation of over $111 million in benefits distributed to Delaware residents. Because intervention by the Delaware Attorney General would injure the original litigants, the trial court properly denied the motion to intervene.

The Delaware Attorney General also failed to show that the interests of justice would be served by permitting intervention eight years after the entry of final judgment. See In re Adoption of a Minor Child,

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