Kansas Public Employees Retirement System v. Reimer & Koger Associates, Inc.

60 F.3d 1304, 1995 WL 442122
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJuly 27, 1995
DocketNo. 95-1294
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 60 F.3d 1304 (Kansas Public Employees Retirement System v. Reimer & Koger Associates, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kansas Public Employees Retirement System v. Reimer & Koger Associates, Inc., 60 F.3d 1304, 1995 WL 442122 (8th Cir. 1995).

Opinion

JOHN R. GIBSON, Senior Circuit Judge.

Blackwell Sanders Matheny Weary & Lombardi, L.C.,1 appeals from an order of the district court denying its motion to intervene in a pending civil suit brought by the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System against various defendants. See Kansas Pub. Employees Retirement Sys. v. Reimer & Roger Assoc., No. 92-0922-CV-W-9 (W.D.Mo. Dec. 29, 1994). We reverse.

[1306]*1306The KPERS litigation was filed in 19912 and has previously been before this court.3 On September 26, 1994, KPERS’ counsel sent a letter to Blackwell Sanders, informing it of KPERS’ intent to join Blackwell Sanders as a party defendant in the case pending in the Western District of Missouri. KPERS enclosed a copy of the Fifth Amended Complaint and a draft of three additional counts which KPERS proposed to bring against Blackwell Sanders. The three counts alleged that Blackwell Sanders represented KPERS in connection with its first $15 million investment in Home Savings Association; that Blackwell Sanders committed professional negligence in that capacity; that Blackwell Sanders breached various fiduciary duties; and that Blackwell Sanders “participated in” Reimer & Roger’s breach of trust. The letter invited Blackwell Sanders to discuss resolution of the case, and stated that KPERS would seek leave to file the additional counts on October 14,1994. Instead, on October 14, 1994, KPERS’ counsel informed Blackwell Sanders that KPERS intended to file the claims in a separate suit in state court in Shawnee County, Kansas. Blackwell Sanders then filed a motion to intervene as of right in the Western District case.

The district court entered an order denying the motion to intervene. Slip op. at 13.4 The court first recited Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a)(2), which provides for intervention of right upon timely application if the disposition of the action “may as a practical matter impair or impede the applicant’s ability to protect” its interest, unless its interest is adequately represented by existing parties. The district court ruled that Blackwell Sanders’ motion was timely, id. at 5, but found that “Blackwell Sanders does not have an interest in the pending action which would be impaired absent its intervention.” Id. at 9 (emphasis added). In so doing, the court rejected Blackwell Sanders’ argument that adverse rulings in the Western District might affect later proceedings through application of res judicata, collateral estoppel, or stare decisis. Id. at 9-11. The court stated that Blackwell Sanders “failed to present any specific legal issues common to the claims pending [in the Western District of Missouri] and those which will be asserted against Blackwell Sanders.” Id. at 10. The court further observed that “it is a fundamental principle ... that the interpretation of state law by a federal court sitting in another state has limited precedential weight in the former state.” Id. The court held that, “because the claims against Blackwell Sanders arise under Kansas law, the adverse impact of stare decisis in a later proceeding does not necessitate a finding that Blackwell Sanders possesses an interest in the litigation that will be practically impaired but for its involvement.” Id. (emphasis added). Further, the court noted that the pending litigation involved conventional claims of negligence and misrepresentation and that the stare decisis effect of cases which are not of first impression is minimal. Id. at 11. The court concluded that it was “unlikely that Blackwell Sanders would be adversely affected in a later proceeding by rulings in the [1307]*1307present one.” Id. (emphasis added). In light of this conclusion, the court declined to address the representation issue, id. at 12 n. 8, and denied Blackwell Sanders’ motion to intervene. Id. at 13.

The district court entered its order denying intervention on December 29, 1994. On January 6, 1995, KPERS filed an action against the partnership of Blackwell Sanders in the district court of Shawnee County, Kansas. Kansas Pub. Employees Retirement Sys. v. Blackwell Sanders Matheny Weary & Lombardi, No. 95CV20 (3d Judicial Dist.Ct., Shawnee County, Kansas).

I.

Intervention of right is governed by Rule 24(a)(2), which provides:

(a) Intervention of Right. Upon timely application anyone shall be permitted to intervene in an action: ... (2) when the applicant claims an interest relating to the property or transaction which is the subject of the action and the applicant is so situated that the disposition of the action may as a practical matter impair or impede the applicant’s ability to protect that interest, unless the applicant’s interest is adequately represented by existing parties.

Fed.R.Civ.P. 24(a)(2).

We review de novo the district court’s denial of Blackwell Sanders’ motion to intervene as of right. Arrow v. Gambler’s Supply, Inc., 55 F.3d 407, 409 (8th Cir.1995); Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians v. Minnesota, 989 F.2d 994, 998 (8th Cir.1993). We review for abuse of discretion the district court’s ruling on the timeliness of that motion. Arrow, 55 F.3d at 409. We construe Rule 24 liberally, Arkansas Elec. Energy Consumers v. Middle S. Energy, Inc., 772 F.2d 401, 404 (8th Cir.1985), and resolve any doubts in favor of the proposed intervenors. Sierra Club v. Robertson, 960 F.2d 83, 86 (8th Cir.1992) (allowing intervention “serves the judicial system’s interest in resolving all related controversies in a single action”); Kozak v. Wells, 278 F.2d 104, 112 (8th Cir.1960).

We have consistently applied Rule 24 less stringently than did the district court. For example, in Kozak, 278 F.2d 104, retired Supreme Court Justice Blaekmun, then a judge for the Eighth Circuit, outlined the Rule’s conditions for intervention of right: “(1) that the application be timely; (2) that the representation of the applicant’s interest by existing parties is or may be inadequate; and (3) that the applicant is or may be bound by a judgment in the action.” Id. at 108 (emphasis added). As noted by Judge Black-mun, the rule then in effect conditioned intervention of right on a finding that the proposed intervenor “is or may be bound by a judgment in the action.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 24(a)(3)(1965).

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Kansas Public Employees Retirement System v. Blackwell, Sanders, Matheny, Weary & Lombardi, L.C., a Law Partnership William H. Sanders, Sr., Individually and as the Representative of a Class, Kansas Public Employees Retirement System v. Reimer & Koger Associates, Inc., a Kansas Corporation Ronald Reimer, an Individual Kenneth H. Koger, an Individual Clifford W. Shinski, an Individual Brent Messick, an Individual Robert Crew, an Individual Sherman Dreiseszun, an Individual I.I. Ozar, an Individual Frank Sebree, an Individual Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., an Accountancy Firm Kpmg Peat Marwick, an Accountancy Firm Robert Spence, an Individual Thomas S. Morgan, Co-Executor of the Estate of Frank S. Morgan Marilyn J., Co-Executor of the Estate of Frank Morgan, Shook, Hardy & Bacon, Through C. Patrick McLarney Acting as a Representative of an Agreed Upon Class of Partners in Shook, Hardy & Bacon, and for Shook, Hardy & Bacon P.C., Intervenor Kansas Public Employees Retirement System v. Blackwell, Sanders, Matheny, Weary & Lombardi, L.C., a Law Partnership William H. Sanders, Sr., Individually and as the Representative of a Class, Kansas Public Employees Retirement System v. Reimer & Koger Associates, Inc., a Kansas Corporation Ronald Reimer, an Individual Kenneth H. Koger, an Individual Clifford W. Shinski, an Individual Brent Messick, an Individual Robert Crew, an Individual Sherman Dreiseszun, an Individual I.I. Ozar, an Individual Frank Sebree, an Individual Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., an Accountancy Firm, Kpmg Peat Marwick, an Accountancy Firm Robert Spence, an Individual, Thomas S. Morgan, Co-Executor of the Estate of Frank S. Morgan Marilyn J., Co-Executor of the Estate of Frank Morgan, Shook, Hardy & Bacon, Through C. Patrick McLarney Acting as a Representative of an Agreed Upon Class of Partners in Shook, Hardy & Bacon, and for Shook, Hardy & Bacon P.C., Intervenor
114 F.3d 679 (Eighth Circuit, 1997)
In Re: KPERS v.
Eighth Circuit, 1996

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 F.3d 1304, 1995 WL 442122, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kansas-public-employees-retirement-system-v-reimer-koger-associates-ca8-1995.