Also known as: significantly protectable interests · protectable interest · legitimate interest
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A nonparty's concrete stake in the property or transaction that forms the subject of pending litigation. The stake qualifies the nonparty for intervention as of right under Rule 24(a)(2) when the litigation's outcome may impair the ability to protect the stake and existing parties do not adequately represent it.
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Sebastian Santos holds a signed contingent purchase agreement to acquire a historic painting from Stonehaven Properties if the museum prevails in title litigation brought by the painter's heirs. Santos moves to intervene as a defendant. The court grants the motion because Santos claims a significantly protectable interest in the painting that a judgment for the heirs would destroy.
Scott Summers serves on the Pine County Board of Elections. The board moves to intervene in a federal challenge to the state's voter-roll maintenance program brought against the state commission. The court grants intervention because the board holds a significantly protectable interest in its own list-maintenance procedures that an injunction could directly regulate.
Solomon Silver signed a noncompetition covenant ancillary to the sale of his insurance brokerage to Sterling Manufacturing. Silver moves to intervene in a contract action between Sterling and a third party that could affect enforcement of the covenant. The court denies intervention because Silver fails to show a significantly protectable interest that the litigation would impair.
Sierra Santos and Sofia Stern are minority applicants to a public university facing a reverse-discrimination challenge to its affirmative-action policy. They move to intervene as defendants. The court grants the motion because the applicants possess a significantly protectable interest in the continued operation of the policy that the litigation could eliminate.
Skylar Sullivan chairs the Municipal Development Authority that funded a stadium project under an agreement restricting remaining construction funds. The authority moves to intervene in a subcontractor's payment suit against the general contractor. The court grants intervention because the authority holds a significantly protectable interest in the disbursement of its funds that a judgment could impair.
Sentinel Security holds a multimillion-dollar loan secured by a mortgage on a condominium building and an assignment of the reserve account. The bank moves to intervene in the condominium association's mismanagement suit against the property manager. The court grants intervention because the bank possesses a significantly protectable interest in the reserve funds that a judgment or settlement could deplete.
The interest must be more than a mere betting interest or general curiosity. It must be a concrete stake relating to the property or transaction at issue, such as a contingent purchase agreement or a regulatory consent order that the litigation could impair.
No. A signed contingent purchase agreement for the specific property at issue supplies a present, legally cognizable contract interest even though performance depends on the outcome of the title dispute.
…not of itself fully answer the contentions raised by Texas, and we pass on to other considerations. V The State has a legitimate interest in seeing to it that abortions are performed by physicians, rather than by unlicensed persons, in a licensed hospital or other appropriate facility, that the procedure is performed in a…
…it expresses the social preferences of the residents for groups that will be congenial to them; that social homogeneity is not a legitimate interest of government; that the restriction of those whom the neighbors do not like trenches on the newcomers’ rights of privacy; that it is of no rightful concern to villagers whether the…
…were parties to an earlier consent decree setting goals for minority hiring and found that the proposed intervenors did have a significantly protectable interest in the affirmative action challenged in the lawsuit. See id. at 342. The district court in Gratz distinguished Jansen , as well as In re Birmingham Reverse Discrimination Employment…
…392 U. S., at 24-25, we found that the conduct was reasonable when we weighed the interest of the individual against the legitimate interest
…process. More importantly, plaintiffs conceive of corruption too narrowly. Our cases have firmly established that Congress' legitimate interest
When the agency administers a consent order or regulatory program that the litigation could undermine through conflicting directives, and existing parties do not share the agency's institutional enforcement concerns.
By showing a direct security interest in the building and assigned reserve account that a judgment or settlement could reduce or alter, creating a practical risk of impairment that the association does not share.
Even when parties share some objectives, differences in how compliance costs fall or how enforcement operates on the ground mean that existing parties are not presumed to protect the intervenor's distinct interests.