Task: songer_r_bus

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 "private business and its executives". 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.
This cause is before the Court on petition of Dan Smoot for a writ of Prohibition and Mandamus against the Honorable Noel P. Fox, Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan. The petition is filed under authority of Section 1651, Title 28 U.S.C. The action arises from the pendency of two cases in the District Court. These cases are numbers 4708 and 4709, on the docket of the court, in which the petitioner herein is plaintiff and The League of Women Voters of the Grand Traverse Area of Michigan, an association affiliated with the League of Women Voters of Michigan, a Michigan Corporation, and certain individuals are defendants. We will refer to the parties as plaintiff and defendants.
The plaintiff is a resident of the state of Texas and is engaged in television and radio broadcasting in Texas and other areas of the United States, including the state of Michigan. The subject of the actions in the District Court is an alleged charge of libel growing out of a letter published in a column of the Traverse City Record Eagle, under the heading of “Voice of the People,” and a monthly bulletin known as “The Bulletin —League of Women Voters — Grand Traverse Area of Michigan.”
The complaints by which the actions were begun were verified on March 9, 1964 and were filed on March 21, 1964. The actions were set for trial on October 14, 1964. A pre-trial was held on September 25, 1964. At this time, counsel for the plaintiff, who had filed his petitions, moved for a continuance on the ground that he was going on an extended vacation. The trial judge denied the motion. Thereupon counsel withdrew as counsel but prepared a motion to dismiss the cases which was presented to the court by counsel’s sister, also a member of the Michigan Bar. She represented that counsel’s health precluded his further participation in the cases.
Subsequently, after interim counsel failed to get a continuance, present counsel came into the case and on October 12, 1964, moved to dismiss the cases with prejudice to the filing of new actions. This motion was denied and on October 14th the petition now before us was filed in our Court. The petitioner sought a continuance from the immediate trial date and an order requiring the District Judge to sustain the motion to dismiss the actions with prejudice. We granted a stay of further proceedings and issued an order to the District Judge to show cause why a writ of mandamus should not issue. An answer and brief were filed by the respondent. The petitioner filed a reply brief and to this the respondent filed a brief in reply and an amicus curiae brief was filed on behalf of the defendants.
The cases in the District Court have undoubtedly created a great deal of public interest and have generated considerable heat between the parties. We are here concerned with the legal right of plaintiff to have the actions dismissed and with the right or duty of this Court to intervene in the matter.
Rule 41(a) (2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides, “Except as provided in paragraph (1) of this subdivision of this rule, an action shall not be dismissed at the plaintiff’s instance save upon order of the court and upon such terms and conditions as the court deems proper.” This rule contemplates the dismissal by plaintiff of an action without prejudice and is clearly discretionary with the court. All of the cases cited by respondent, supporting the discretionary right of the court to dismiss cases on motion of the plaintiff, concern the dismissal without prejudice.
No case has been cited to us, nor have we found any, where' a plaintiff, upon his own motion, was denied the right to dismiss his case with prejudice. New counsel for the plaintiff said that he advised his client that on authority of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 84 S.Ct. 710, 11 L.Ed.2d 686, he would have to show malice on the part of the defendants in order to succeed in his litigation. It was counsel’s .view that this could not be shown, or, at least, it could not be developed in the limited time available for preparation. We know of no power in a trial judge to require a lawyer to submit evidence on behalf of a plaintiff, when he considers he has no cause of action or for any reason wishes to dismiss his action with prejudice, the client being agreeable. A plaintiff should have the same right to refuse to offer evidence in support of his claim that a defendant has.
Of course, if he declines to offer evidence, he must suffer the consequences, which in this case would be judgment against him and a judgment in favor of the defendants. Dismissal of an action with prejudice is a complete adjudication of the issues presented by the pleadings and is a bar to a further action between the parties. An adjudication in favor of the defendants, by court or jury, can rise no higher than this. Panza v. Armco Steel Corp., 316 F.2d 69, C.A. 3, cert. den. 375 U.S. 897, 84 S.Ct. 174, 11 L.Ed. 2d 125; Creek Indians Nat. Council v. Sinclair Prairie Oil Co., 142 F.2d 842, 845, C.A. 10, cert. den. 323 U.S. 781, 65 S.Ct. 269, 89 L.Ed. 624; Olsen v. Muskegon Piston Ring Co., 117 F.2d 163, 165, C.A. 6; D. A. C. Uranium Co. v. Benton, D.C., 149 F.Supp. 667, 673; Daley v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., D.C., 90 F.Supp. 562, 563. See also, Rose v. Bourne, Inc., D.C., 172 F.Supp. 536, 538.
We are loathe to grant petitions for writs of mandamus and refrain from doing so where mandamus is resorted to-as a substitute for appeal. Bankers Life & Casualty Co. v. Holland, 346 U.S. 379, 382, 74 S.Ct. 145, 98 L.Ed. 106 (1953); Ex parte Fahey, 332 U.S. 258, 259-260, 67 S.Ct. 1558, 91 L.Ed. 2041 (1947); Roche v. Evaporated Milk Ass’n, 319 U.S. 21, 26, 63 S.Ct. 938, 87 L.Ed. 1185 (1943); Hoffa v. Gray, 323 F.2d 178, 179, C.A. 6, cert. den. 375 U.S. 907, 84 S.Ct. 199, 11 L.Ed.2d 147; Aday v. United States District Court, 318 F.2d 588, 591, C.A. 6, cert. den. 375 U.S. 832, 84 S.Ct. 78, 11 L.Ed.2d 63; Beneke v. Weick, 275 F.2d 38, 39, C.A. 6.
In this case a two- or three-week trial is contemplated. Witnesses are to be subpoenaed from distant parts of the United States. Such a trial with an unwilling plaintiff, even if it could be enforced, would be an expensive luxury. Our District Courts are over-crowded with pending cases and the Western District of Michigan is no exception. Our district judges have no time to conduct useless trials.
We find that it was an abuse of discretion on the part of the respondent to deny the plaintiff’s motion for dismissal of the actions with prejudice to bringing new actions. In the interest of justice and in order to prevent the conduct of an unnecessary trial, with its attendant accumulation of costs and inconvenience to witnesses, we grant the petition and order the respondent to dismiss the actions with prejudice, subject to the payment of all court costs by the plaintiff.
. Cone v. West Virginia Pulp & Paper Co., 330 U.S. 212, 67 S.Ct. 752, 91 L.Ed. 849; Grivas v. Parmelee Transp. Co., 207 F.2d 334, C.A.7, reversing Bolten v. General Motors Corp., 180 F.2d 379, 21 A.L.R.2d 623, C.A.7, holding that a plaintiff could dismiss without prejudice as a matter of right; Adney v. Mississippi Lime Co. of Missouri, 241 F.2d 43, 44, C.A.7; Barnett v. Terminal R. Ass’n of St. Louis, 200 F.2d 893, 894, C.A.8; Moore v. C. R. Anthony Co., 198 F.2d 607, 608, C.A.10; Westinghouse Electric Corp. v. United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America, 194 F.2d 770, 771, C.A.3; Ockert v. Union Barge Line Corp., 190 F.2d 303, 304, C.A.3; Larsen v. Switzer, 183 F.2d 850, 851, C.A.8; New York, C. & St. L. R. Co. v. Vardaman, 181 F.2d 769, 770, C.A.8; Churchward International Steel Co. v. Carnegie Steel Co., D.C., 286 F. 158; Lunn v. United Aircraft Corp., D.C., 26 F.R.D. 12; Mott v. Connecticut General Life Ins. Co., D.C., 2 F.R.D. 523, 524.

Question: What is the total number of respondents in the case that fall into the category "private business and its executives"? Answer with a number.
Answer:

Answer: 0