Stupak-Thrall v. Glickman

No. 99-1353 (226 F.3d 467) (6th Cir. September 1, 2000)

ELR Digest

The court holds that a district court properly denied environmental groups' and an individual's motion to intervene in private landowners' lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service challenging its authority to regulate the Sylvania Wilderness Area in upper Michigan. The court first holds that the district court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that the intervening parties' motion to intervene was not timely filed. The litigation was seven months' old when the parties moved to intervene, and they presented no persuasive excuse for their seven-month delay. In addition, given their involvement in earlier, related litigation, the parties should have been aware of the landowners' present challenge shortly after it was filed. Further, the parties' concerns, as amici curiae, have been presented to the district court, and they likely will be permitted to continue their participation as amici curiae in related appeals. Last, allowing intervention would cause delay and undue prejudice to the private landowners. The district court, therefore, did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion to intervene.

A dissenting judge would have held that the intervening parties' motion was timely.

The full text of this decision is available from ELR (30 pp., ELR Order No. L-273).

Counsel for Plaintiffs
William P. Pendley
Mountain States Legal Foundation
707 17th St., Denver CO 80202
(303) 292-2021

Counsel for Defendants
William L. Underwood
Faegre & Benson
2200 Norwest Ctr.
90 S. 7th St., Minneapolis MN 55402
(612) 336-3000

[31 ELR 20095]

[OPINION OMITTED BY PUBLISHER IN ORIGINAL SOURCE]