Litigation

Objector's Failed Intervention Prevents Arkansas Supreme Court Review of State-Court Coupon Settlement

By H. William Allen et al.

After receiving notice of a pending coupon settlement in a class action against Little-Rock based cellular service provider Alltel, Frank DeJulius attempted to intervene in the action and object to the settlement. He did not, however, opt out of the settlement. The trial court denied his motion to intervene and his objection to the settlement, and today the Arkansas Supreme Court, via Justice Imber, affirmed.

Justice Imber first cited the general rule that "if a person seeking intervention will be left with the right to pursue his own independent remedy against the parties, regardless of the outcome of the pending case, then he has no interest that needs protecting by intervention of right." Justice Imber then noted that DeJulius could have opted out of the settlement and sued Alltell on his own. "By requesting exclusion [from the class], DeJulius would have maintained the right to pursue his own independent remedy." Because he failed to do so, he failed to satisfy Rule 24(a)(2)'s requirements.

DeJulius also stated that he received the class notice too late to be able to meaningfully review his options--arguing, in effect, that the late notice took away his right to opt out of the class. Justice Imber made short work of this argument, holding that DeJulius failed to make an adequate record.

Full post as published by Arkansas Business Litigation Blog on April 10, 2008 (boomark / email).