United States Tenth Circuit

In an appeal from the denial of plaintiffs' motion to intervene in an action brought by Kane County, Utah, to quiet title to several purported rights-of-way across federal public lands, the order is affirmed where: 1) even assuming plaintiffs had an interest in the quiet title proceedings at issue, plaintiffs failed to establish that the U.S. could not adequately represent plaintiffs' interest; and 2) the denial of permissive intervention was not arbitrary and capricious.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/08/2010
• Published 03/08/2010

Judges

• BRISCOE, Circuit Judge., Before KELLY, EBEL, and BRISCOE, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Heidi J. McIntosh, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Salt Lake City, UT (Steven H.M. Bloch, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Salt Lake City, UT; Edward B. Zukoski and Andrea Zaccardi, Earthjustice, Denver, CO, with her on the briefs), for Movants to Intervene-Appellants Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Wilderness Society, and Sierra Club.


• For Appellees:
  
• Shawn T. Welch (Kendra L. Shirey and Janna B. Custer with him on the brief), of Holme, Roberts & Owen LLP, Salt Lake City, UT, for Plaintiff-Appellee Kane County, Utah., Aaron P. Avila, Attorney, Environment & Natural Resources Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. (John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General; Brett L. Tolman, United States Attorney; John K. Mangum, Assistant United States Attorney; James E. Karkut, Office of the Regional Solicitor Department of the Interior, Salt Lake City, UT; Romney S. Philpott, Attorney, Environment & Natural Resources Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., with him on the brief), for Defendant-Appellee United States.