Puerto Rico Telephone Co. v. San Juan Cable, LLC

298 F.R.D. 28, 2014 WL 896746, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30149
District Court, D. Puerto Rico·Decided February 25, 2014·No. Civil No. 11-2135 (GAG)·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

GUSTAVO A. GELPI, District Judge.

Armando Díaz (“Diaz”), seeks to intervene in the instant action and requested leave to file a Complaint of Intervention “on behalf of himself and the members of the class defined therein, for the purpose of asserting the claims of Puerto Rican customers of San Juan Cable, LLC d/b/a One Link Communications (“OneLink” or “Defendant”) who have suffered antitrust injury as a result of OneLink’s [alleged unlawful and anticompeti-tive] actions.” (See Docket No. 224.) Presently before the court is Diaz’s Motion for Leave to File Complaint of Intervention at Docket No. 224. Plaintiff, Puerto Rico Telephone Company, Inc. (“PRTC”) opposed the intervention sought. (See Docket No. 232.) Similarly, OneLink opposed Diaz’s motion for intervention. (See Docket No. 233.) After a careful review of the parties’ submissions, the procedural posture of this case and pertinent law, the court DENIES Diaz’s motion to intervene at Docket No. 224.

I. Discussion

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure contemplate two types of motions to intervene: intervention of right, Fed.R.Civ.P. 24(a), and permissive intervention, Fed.R.Civ.P. 24(b). The differences are significant. The rule governing permissive intervention provides, in part:

On timely motion the court may permit anyone to intervene in an action who: (A) is given a conditional right to intervene by a federal statute; or (B) has a claim or defense that shares with the main action a common question of law or fact. (...) In exercising its discretion, the court must consider whether the intervention will unduly delay or prejudice the adjudication of the original parties’ rights.”

Fed.R.Civ.P. 24(b). However, even when each of these elements is satisfied, a court may nonetheless exercise its discretion to deny the motion to intervene. Pub. Serv. Co. of New Hampshire v. Patch, 173 F.R.D. 17, 29 (D.N.H.1997) aff'd, 136 F.3d 197 (1st Cir.1998). See New York News, Inc. v. Kheel, 972 F.2d 482 (2d Cir.1992). The express language of Rule 24(b) specifies that the principal consideration a court must weigh in exercising this discretion is “whether the intervention will unduly delay or prejudice the adjudication of the rights of the original parties.” See Patch, supra. The discretion afforded to the district court under Rule 24, substantial in any event, is even broader when the issue is one of permissive intervention. R & G Mortgage Corp. v. Fed. Home Loan Mortgage Corp., 584 F.3d 1, 11-12 (1st Cir.2009); see also Navieros Inter-Americanos, S.A. v. M/V Vasilia Express, 120 F.3d 304, 320 (1st Cir.1997). In the case [31] of a motion to intervene as of right, the district court’s discretion is somewhat more constrained than in the case of a motion for permissive intervention. R & G Mortgage, 584 F.3d at 8.

Whether intervention be claimed of right or as permissive, it is at once apparent, that the application must be “timely.” Culbreath v. Dukakis, 630 F.2d 15, 17 (1st Cir.1980). If untimely, intervention must be denied. Id. The timeliness requirement is often applied less strictly with respect to intervention as of right. R & G Mortgage, 584 F.3d at 8; see e.g., Navieros, 120 F.3d at 320. The court may be more strict in assessing the issue of timeliness under a Rule 24(b) motion than under a Rule 24(a) motion. Banco Popular de Puerto Rico v. Greenblatt, 964 F.2d 1227, 1230 (1st Cir.1992). Thus, a timeliness inquiry is more rigorous when a movant is seeking permissive intervention. Regardless, when ruling on a request for intervention, the district court’s discretion is appreciable, and the timeliness requirement retains considerable bite. See R & G Mortgage, 584 F.3d at 8.

Here, Diaz seeks permissive intervention pursuant to Rule 24(b)(1). District courts have “broad discretion” when deciding whether or not to grant permissive intervention under Rule 24(b). Travelers Indem. Co. v. Dingwell, 884 F.2d 629, 641 (1st Cir.1989). Rule 24(b) gives the judge discretion to allow intervention “when an applicant’s claim or defense and the main action have a question of law or fact in common.” Daggett v. Comrm’n on Gov. Ethics & Election Practices, 172 F.3d 104, 112-13 (1st Cir.1999). To justify his intervention, Diaz solely argues that the claims asserted in the proposed Complaint of Intervention certainly have questions of law and fact in common with the main action filed by PRTC. (See Docket No. 224-1 at 3.) Diaz, however, fails to present any other argument for the court to consider.

The parties do not dispute that some of Diaz’s claims share common questions of law and fact with those present in PRTC’s Complaint. As such, and given the fact that “the proposed Complaint of Intervention is to a large extent a copy of PRTC’s Amended Complaint,” Diaz likely satisfies the low threshold requirement of common questions of law or fact. {See Docket No. 224-1 at 2.) However, even where this necessary condition is present, the rule merely permits intervention at the discretion of the court. Daggett, 172 F.3d at 112-13; Mass. Food Ass’n v. Mass. Alcoholic Beverages Control Comm’n, 197 F.3d 560, 568 (1st Cir.1999). The district court can consider almost any factor rationally relevant but enjoys very broad discretion in granting or denying the motion. See United States Postal Serv. v. Brennan, 579 F.2d 188, 191-92 (2d Cir.1978); Daggett, 172 F.3d at 113. Both PRTC and OneLink argue that Diaz’s request to intervene is untimely and that as a whole the circumstances of this case militate in favor of denying intervention.

A. The Timeliness Determination

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Puerto Rico Telephone Co. v. San Juan Cable, LLC, 298 F.R.D. 28, 2014 WL 896746, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30149 (prd 2014).

298 F.R.D. 28 (Puerto Rico Telephone Co. v. San Juan Cable, LLC) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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