State v. American Pipe & Construction Co.

50 F.R.D. 99, 13 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 714, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12297, 1970 Trade Cas. (CCH) 73,143
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedMarch 30, 1970
DocketCiv. No. 69-1964-MP
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 50 F.R.D. 99 (State v. American Pipe & Construction Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. American Pipe & Construction Co., 50 F.R.D. 99, 13 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 714, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12297, 1970 Trade Cas. (CCH) 73,143 (C.D. Cal. 1970).

Opinion

DECISION ON MOTIONS TO INTERVENE, AMEND, ETC.

PENCE, Chief Judge.

The motions before this court are but sequelae of this court’s decision and order of December 17, 1969, 49 F.R.D. 17, that this Sherman 1 antitrust case, filed as a class action by the State of Utah under Rule 23(b) (3), F.R.Civ.P., was not to be so maintained. As indicated in that prior ruling, Utah filed this Sherman 1 antitrust suit on May 13, 1969, just eleven days before the statute of limitations in these “Western Pipe” cases ceased to be tolled under Clayton 5(b) (15 U.S.C. § 16(b)). In those eleven days none of the moving parties now before this court filed any actions or motions, nor did any do so until after this court’s December 4, 1969 decision. Now, after solicitation to do so by the State of Utah, some 60-odd towns and cities, and water and sewer districts in Utah (petitioners), through Utah’s counsel, have: (1) moved, pursuant to Rule 24(a) (2) or in the alternative to [101]*101Rule 24(b) (2), F.R.Civ.P., to intervene as plaintiffs in the Utah action; and as an alternative, (2) Utah has moved for leave to amend its complaint by adding these petitioners as parties-plaintiff; (3) as an alternative to that, Utah has moved that the court alter or amend its order of December 4, 1969, pursuant to Rule 23(c) (1), F.R.Civ.P., so as to reinstate this as a class action as to those same petitioners. (4) As yet another alternative, Utah has moved the court for an order directing that notice be given to all members of the class alleged in plaintiff’s original complaint advising them of the decision of the court to terminate the class action and then giving them a reasonable time in which to intervene in the present action. Coupled with this is the supplemental motion that the court’s order of December 4 be vacated pending such notice and intervention “within a reasonable time” thereafter. (5) Utah also in the alternative moves that the court amend its prior order by adding “the magic language” from 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) so as to facilitate an interlocutory appeal from its December 4 decision.

The affidavits of the petitioners indicate that in February of 1969 attorneys for only six or seven thereof had ever discussed with Utah’s attorney the possibility of a pipe antitrust suit against the defendants herein, or had relied upon the Utah class action to protect their interests.1 Each of the petitioners alleges that the alleged conspiracy has continued to the date of the filing of the complaint by the State of Utah. All motions have been fully briefed and argued.

While Utah and petitioners allege that the “Western Pipe” conspiracy, has continued on until May 13, 1969, the problem underlying all of the motions is that of the bar of the statute of limitations to the petitioners’ complaints. Underlying every motion is the desire of the petitioners to avoid that bar by any procedural route. As determined by this court in Maricopa County v. American Pipe and Construction Co. et al., 303 F. Supp. 77 (D.Ariz.1969), the tolling of the statute of limitations on the government’s “Western Pipe” conspiracy cases ceased on May 24, 1969. Since only the State of Utah, of all the parties now before this court, filed its suit prior to that date, unless by one means or another the present parties can somehow get under the now dropped portcullis and inside the golden castle of the Clayton Act, any Sherman 1 claims for any injuries prior to the four years preceding the filing of these motions are barred2

Motions to Intervene Under Rule 2U.

Each of the petitioners urged that they should be permitted to intervene as [102]*102a matter of right under Rule 24(a) (2), maintaining that they have such an interest relating to the conspiracy charged in the Utah action that the disposition of that action may impair or impede their ability to protect that interest. They urge the court should adopt the “liberalized” interpretation given this section by Cascade Natural Gas Corp. v. El Paso Natural Gas Co., 386 U.S. 129, 87 S.Ct. 932, 17 L.Ed.2d 814 (1967); Smuck v. Hobson, 132 U.S.App.D.C. 372, 408 F.2d 175 (1969); and Nuesse v. Camp, 128 U.S.App.D.C. 172, 385 F.2d 694 (1967). While the advisory committee to the 1966 amendment in its note to subdivision (a) stated: “If an absentee would be substantially affected in a practical sense by the determination made in an action, he should, as a general rule, be entitled to intervene * * *.”,3 this court feels that Rule 24(a) (2) has been given its optimum application in Cascade, j ln Cascade, Smuck and Nuesse, each of the intervenors were attempting to implement important and well-defined public policies — a status not enjoyed by petitioners hereT^

¡,.It is only in those cases where the prospective intervenor appears to have a sufficient stake in the outcome and enough to contribute to the resolution of the controversy, that a right to intervene arises. Utah and petitioners admit that a judgment for or against Utah would in nowise preclude the petitioners or any of them from filing independent actions against the same defendants based upon the same alleged conspiratorial acts as set up by Utah. No decision in Utah’s case would be res adjudicata as to any portion of their several causes of action. Thus, not one of the petitioners here has any real stake in the outcome of the Utah case, per se. | Nor would their presence contribute to the resolution of Utah’s claims. As indicated above, it is manifest that the underlying reason for the petitions to intervene is the desire of petitioners to get their complaints related back to May 13, 1969, and thereby circumvent the bar of the statute of limitations.

The petitioners here manifestly have no such interest in the outcome of Utah’s litigation as would mandate this court to permit them to intervene under Rule 24(a) (2).

The alternative, permissive intervention under Rule 24(b) (2), is not as easy of resolution. Petitioners’ claims might well have questions of fact in common with Utah’s — apparently the same parties-defendant, same alleged conspiracy, same time-damage periods, etc. It is manifest, however, that to permit even a limited intervention on the part of petitioners for the purpose of conducting joint discovery proceedings would in the context of this case, seriously prejudice the rights of the defendants, and necessarily complicate and delay resolution of discovery problems arising in Utah’s case.

The seven petitioners4 who in their bare bones affidavits indicate some reliance on Utah’s class action to toll the statute for them, find some support in dicta in Judge Fullam’s excellently written decision in Philadelphia Electric,5 viz., that those members of the non-class who relied upon the class action to protect their interests should be allowed to intervene and their actions relate back to the date the class action was filed, even though, meanwhile, the statute had run.

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50 F.R.D. 99, 13 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 714, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12297, 1970 Trade Cas. (CCH) 73,143, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-american-pipe-construction-co-cacd-1970.