Task: songer_r_natpr

What follows is an opinion from a United States Court of Appeals.
Intervenors who participated as parties at the courts of appeals should be counted as either appellants or respondents when it can be determined whose position they supported. For example, if there were two plaintiffs who lost in district court, appealed, and were joined by four intervenors who also asked the court of appeals to reverse the district court, the number of appellants should be coded as six.
In some cases there is some confusion over who should be listed as the appellant and who as the respondent. This confusion is primarily the result of the presence of multiple docket numbers consolidated into a single appeal that is disposed of by a single opinion. Most frequently, this occurs when there are cross appeals and/or when one litigant sued (or was sued by) multiple litigants that were originally filed in district court as separate actions. The coding rule followed in such cases should be to go strictly by the designation provided in the title of the case. The first person listed in the title as the appellant should be coded as the appellant even if they subsequently appeared in a second docket number as the respondent and regardless of who was characterized as the appellant in the opinion.
To clarify the coding conventions, consider the following hypothetical case in which the US Justice Department sues a labor union to strike down a racially discriminatory seniority system and the corporation (siding with the position of its union) simultaneously sues the government to get an injunction to block enforcement of the relevant civil rights law. From a district court decision that consolidated the two suits and declared the seniority system illegal but refused to impose financial penalties on the union, the corporation appeals and the government and union file cross appeals from the decision in the suit brought by the government. Assume the case was listed in the Federal Reporter as follows:
United States of America,
Plaintiff, Appellant
v
International Brotherhood of Widget Workers,AFL-CIO
Defendant, Appellee.
International Brotherhood of Widget Workers,AFL-CIO
Defendants, Cross-appellants
v
United States of America.
Widgets, Inc. & Susan Kuersten Sheehan, President & Chairman
of the Board
Plaintiff, Appellants,
v
United States of America,
Defendant, Appellee.
This case should be coded as follows:Appellant = United States, Respondents = International Brotherhood of Widget Workers Widgets, Inc., Total number of appellants = 1, Number of appellants that fall into the category "the federal government, its agencies, and officials" = 1, Total number of respondents = 3, Number of respondents that fall into the category "private business and its executives" = 2, Number of respondents that fall into the category "groups and associations" = 1.
Note that if an individual is listed by name, but their appearance in the case is as a government official, then they should be counted as a government rather than as a private person. For example, in the case "Billy Jones & Alfredo Ruiz v Joe Smith" where Smith is a state prisoner who brought a civil rights suit against two of the wardens in the prison (Jones & Ruiz), the following values should be coded: number of appellants that fall into the category "natural persons" =0 and number that fall into the category "state governments, their agencies, and officials" =2. A similar logic should be applied to businesses and associations. Officers of a company or association whose role in the case is as a representative of their company or association should be coded as being a business or association rather than as a natural person. However, employees of a business or a government who are suing their employer should be coded as natural persons. Likewise, employees who are charged with criminal conduct for action that was contrary to the company policies should be considered natural persons.
If the title of a case listed a corporation by name and then listed the names of two individuals that the opinion indicated were top officers of the same corporation as the appellants, then the number of appellants should be coded as three and all three were coded as a business (with the identical detailed code). Similar logic should be applied when government officials or officers of an association were listed by name.
Your specific task is to determine the total number of respondents in the case that fall into the category "natural persons". If the total number cannot be determined (e.g., if the respondent is listed as "Smith, et. al." and the opinion does not specify who is included in the "et.al."), then answer 99.

PER CURIAM:
The petitioner-appellant, Aaacon Auto Transport, Inc. (Aaacon), is a motor carrier authorized and licensed by the Interstate Commerce Commission to transport privately owned automobiles throughout the United States. On or about June 3, 1970, Aaacon entered into a bill of lading agreement with the respondent-appellee, Florence Ninfo, a resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, whereby Aaacon agreed to transport her Chevrolet Camaro from California to Wisconsin, subject to the conditions contained in the agreement. On August 16, 1971, Ninfo commenced an action against Aaa-con in the Circuit Court of Milwaukee County, State of Wisconsin, claiming that her automobile was damaged in transport. On October 2, 1972 Aaacon petitioned the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, for an order, pursuant to the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 4, directing the parties to arbitrate in accordance with a clause in the agreement which provides:
Any claim or controversy, whether founded in contract or tort, arising out of or relating to this agreement or the performance or breach thereof shall be settled by arbitration in the City, County and State of New York ....
Ninfo moved to dismiss the proceedings, or alternatively for an order assigning the matter to the United States District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin, on the ground of forum non conveniens. On May 14, 1973, the Hon. Constance Baker Motley, United States District Judge, granted the Ninfo motion to change venue and denied the petitioner’s motion without prejudice to renewal of the motion in the transferee court. This is an appeal from the order.
An order transferring a case for trial to another district pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) is a non-appealable interlocutory order. D'Ippolito v. American Oil Co., 401 F.2d 764 (2d Cir. 1968) (per curiam). An order staying arbitration pending a trial on the validity of the agreement to arbitrate is also a non-appealable interlocutory order. Lummus Co. v. Commonwealth Oil Refining Co., 297 F.2d 80, 84-86 (2d Cir. 1961), cert, denied, 368 U.S. 986, 82 S. Ct. 601, 7 L.Ed.2d 524 (1962); John Thompson Beacon Windows, Ltd. v. Ferro, Inc., 98 U.S.App.D.C. 109, 232 F.2d 366 (1956); see Greater Continental Corp. v. Shechter, 422 F.2d 1100, 1102-1103 (2d Cir. 1970).
In the memorandum opinion below, the court indicated that the Ninfo affidavit in opposition to the Aaacon motion “suggests” that there is a question as to whether or not the agreement was ever entered into, or if it was, whether Ninfo realized that it called for arbitration of all disputes in New York County since the provision appeared inconspicuously toward the end of the boilerplate of the shipper’s standard form which might render it invalid as against public policy. The court concluded that this presented issues of fact which need not be decided here, but could be resolved in the more convenient federal forum in Wisconsin. 9 U.S.C. § 4, however, provides in pertinent part:
The court shall hear the parties, and upon being satisfied that the making of the agreement for arbitration or the failure to comply therewith is not in issue, the court shall make an order directing the parties to proceed to arbitration in accordance with the terms of the agreement. The hearing and proceedings, under such agreement, shall be within the district in which the petition for an order directing such arbitration is filed. If the making of the arbitration agreement or the failure, neglect, or refusal to perform the same be in issue, the court shall proceed summarily to the trial thereof.
Since the agreement on its face provides for arbitration in New York and since the petition was filed in the Southern District of New York, the statute mandates that the court below proceed summarily to a trial of the issues as to the making of the agreement. Aaacon Auto Transport, Inc. v. Teafatiller, 334 F.Supp. 1042, 1044 (S.D.N.Y. 1971); Lawn v. Franklin, 328 F.Supp. 791, 793 (S.D.N.Y.1971). It follows that the court below, lacked the power to order the transfer of the case to Wisconsin. See Farrell v. Wyatt, 408 F.2d 662, 664-665 (2d Cir. 1969). The proper procedure for Aaacon therefore was to seek mandamus.
This court has generally declined to consider an appeal from a non-appeala-ble order as a petition for mandamus. However, there is precedent in an appropriate case to treat the appeal as a motion for leave to file a petition for mandamus. “An expression of this court’s views on such a motion would generally obviate any need for a petition or writ, while still leaving it open to the judge to await a formal petition in the rare case where he wishes to be heard.” International Products Corp. v. Koons, 325 F.2d 403, 407 (2d Cir. 1963). See also Western Geophysical Co. v. Bolt Associates, 440 F.2d 765, 769 (2d Cir. 1971).
We therefore suggest that the district court proceed to try the issue of the validity of the agreement of arbitration. If this is not done, the appellant may apply for a writ.
Appeal dismissed. Costs are taxed against the appellant.

Question: What is the total number of respondents in the case that fall into the category "natural persons"? Answer with a number.
Answer:

Answer: 1