Walden v. Elrod

72 F.R.D. 5, 23 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 165, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17240
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Oklahoma
DecidedJanuary 12, 1976
DocketCiv. Nos. 74-305-D to 74-307-D
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 72 F.R.D. 5 (Walden v. Elrod) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Walden v. Elrod, 72 F.R.D. 5, 23 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 165, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17240 (W.D. Okla. 1976).

Opinion

ORDER

DAUGHERTY, Chief Judge.

The three consolidated cases above captioned are stockholder’s derivative actions involving two corporations T.E.L. Oil and Gas Corporation (T.E.L.); and Guymon Crestview, Inc. (Crestview). Plaintiff as a minority stockholder in each corporation alleges in each case that corporate assets were disposed of improperly by the corporations due to acts of the individual Defendants. Two of the cases relate to disposal of assets of T.E.L. and the third relates to disposal of Crestview property. The cases were filed March 22, 1974. They came on for trial before the Court on April 17, 1975 and after a two day hearing were continued to September 9,1975 at which time another two days of trial were conducted. At the close of the September hearing the cases were submitted to the Court for decision.

Roberta Edwards on December 30, 1975 filed a Motion to Intervene as a Plaintiff in all three cases. Said Motions are made pursuant to Rule 24(a), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. She contends such intervention is necessary for two reasons: (1) that her interest in the subject matter of the instant actions is such that disposition of same may as a practical matter affect her ability to protect said interest and (2) that she is not adequately represented by Plaintiff. In this regard, Applicant urges that she claims an interest in Plaintiff’s stock in the two corporations and in fact is currently involved in a State Court lawsuit in which she claims ownership of the stock in question adverse to the ownership of Plaintiff herein. In Applicant’s proposed Complaint in Intervention she would allege that Plaintiff agreed to sell his stock in the two corporations to her on November 5, 1971 at which time he endorsed the stock certificates in blank and delivered same to Applicant. She further would allege that Plaintiff remained the owner of record during all relevant periods. The relief sought in the proposed Complaint in Intervention includes a request the purported corporate assets be returned to the corporations by Defendants or in the alternative that Defendants be required to pay to the minority shareholder the proper proportionate share of the fair market value of the assets transferred. This relief is the same or similar to that sought by Plaintiff in the instant cases. Applicant would ask for additional relief against Plaintiff in the form of an accounting for dividends and other consideration received from the corporations in question after the purported stock sale to Applicant.

This Court is familiar with the fact that Applicant Edwards has had an interest of some nature in Plaintiff’s stock in the two corporations. Defendants in the actions have twice filed Motions or Applications that she be made an additional party Plaintiff to these actions. Said Motions or Applications were denied pursuant to this Court’s Orders of January 16, 1975 and January 9, 1976. The Pretrial Conference Order filed herein on March 13,1975 provided that Defendants were not precluded from showing at the trial that Plaintiff herein was not the owner of the stock in question on the dates of the transfers complained of if such proof is available. No such proof was offered during the trial of these cases. Ample opportunity was afforded Defendants to develop and offer such proof.

Rule 24(a), supra, provides:

“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.”

[10]*10The instant Motions are based on subsection (2) above. Applicant appears to have made a showing that she claims an interest relating to the corporate stock which is the subject of the instant litigation. Two questions must be considered to determine if the requested intervention should be allowed:

(1) Are the Applications timely? and (2) Is the Applicant’s interest adequately represented by Plaintiff?

The Applicant failed to address the timeliness issue. Under the present status of the case, the Court is of the opinion that the instant Motions are not timely filed based on the following factors: (1) The actions have been pending for over 21 months prior to the filing of the Motions under consideration; (2) The actions have been at issue for over 15 months prior to the filing of said Motions; (3) The trial of the cases was commenced over 8 months prior and concluded almost 4 months prior thereto after the Court heard four days of testimony; (4) The evidence was closed and the cases were submitted for decision prior to the filing of the Motions, and (5) Applicant has had knowledge of the instant lawsuits for almost one year prior to the filing of the instant Motions to Intervene.1

What constitutes a timely application to intervene under Rule 24(a), supra, must be answered in each case in the exercise of the sound discretion of the Court. Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company v. Rhodes, 403 F.2d 2 (Tenth Cir. 1968), cert. den. 394 U.S. 965, 89 S.Ct. 1319, 22 L.Ed.2d 567.

The instant Motions each indicate that Applicant’s claims against Defendants are the same as those urged against Defendants by the Plaintiff in the cases at bar. Plaintiff has adequately presented his case as a minority stockholder of the two corporations involved and such representation is adequate to protect the owners of such stock whether it is ultimately determined Plaintiff or Applicant owns the same. As to the proposed claim against Plaintiff herein it would appear that same can and should be disposed of in the State Court litigation involving Applicant and Plaintiff.

Considering that Applicant’s claims against Defendants are identical to those asserted by Plaintiff herein the following statement from the case of United States v. International Business Machines Corp., 62 F.R.D. 530 (S.D.N.Y.1974) seems applicable:

“When the interests of an applicant for intervention are considered identical with those of a party the courts have developed a three-pronged test to determine whether intervention should be granted. This test received its first judicial articulation by Justice (then Judge) Blackmun in Stadin v. Union Electric Co., 309 F.2d 912 (8th Cir. 1962), cert. denied, 373 U.S. 915, 83 S.Ct. 1298, 10 L.Ed.2d 415 (1963). He stated:
[Inadequacy of representation is or may be shown by proof of collusion between the representative and an opposing party, by the representative having or representing an interest adverse to the intervenor, or by the failure of the representative in the fulfillment of his duty.
Id. at 919, 83 S.Ct. 1298, 10 L.Ed.2d 415. This standard has received the endorsement of both the courts and leading commentators.”

As the instant litigation has been tried before the Court it is easy for this Court to determine that there has been no collusion between Plaintiff and Defendants in this hard fought litigation.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
72 F.R.D. 5, 23 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 165, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17240, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/walden-v-elrod-okwd-1976.