Task: songer_appnatpr

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 appellants in the case that fall into the category "natural persons". If the total number cannot be determined (e.g., if the appellant is listed as "Smith, et. al." and the opinion does not specify who is included in the "et.al."), then answer 99.

BREITENSTEIN, Circuit Judge.
Appellant Ragan presented to the United States District Court for the District of Kansas two petitions for habeas corpus, each of which was accompanied by a motion and affidavit for leave to file in forma pauperis under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). The first petition, identified on the docket of the lower court as No. 3230 H.C., alleged that Ragan was held unlawfully in the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Leavenworth, Kansas, because two military court-martial sentences imposed against him ran concurrently rather than consecutively and had been completely served. The court, without stating any reasons, denied leave to file in forma pauperis.
The second petition, identified as No. 3236 H.C., alleged that Ragan had received a military court-martial sentence of six years and a dishonorable discharge; that after such discharge he had received a second military court-martial sentence of 10 years; that the second sentence was void as the court-martial lacked jurisdiction over him because of the discharge; and that the first sentence had been completely served. Again, the court, without stating any reasons, denied leave to file in forma pauperis.
Subsequently, in each case Ragan filed a motion, with supporting affidavit for leave to appeal in forma pauperis. These were each denied without any reasons being stated and without any certificate that the appeal was not taken in good faith. Ragan then applied to the Court of Appeals in each case for leave to appeal in forma pauperis. The two cases were consolidated as Docket No. 6811. We granted leave “to proceed in this court in forma pauperis” and ordered the certification of the original files to this court. After examination of those files we denied “leave to proceed further in forma pauperis” and dismissed the appeals. On certiorari, the Supreme Court vacated our order “insofar as it denies petitioner leave to proceed in forma pauperis” and remanded the cause for further proceedings.
The only matter before us is the validity of the trial court orders denying leave to file in forma pauperis. These are appealable orders. In Ellis v. United States, 356 U.S. 674, 675, 78 S.Ct. 974, 2 L.Ed.2d 1060, the Supreme Court reversed a denial of leave to appeal in forma pauperis saying:
“Unless the issues raised are so frivolous that the appeal would be dismissed in the case of a non-indigent litigant, Fed.Rule Crim. Proc. 39(a) [18 U.S.C.A.], the request of an indigent for leave to appeal in forma pauperis must be allowed.”
This rule was reaffirmed in Coppedge v. United States, 369 U.S. 438, 448, 82 S.Ct. 917, 8 L.Ed.2d 21, and was amplified by the statement that:
“It is not the burden of the petitioner to show that his appeal has merit, in the sense that he is bound, or even likely, to prevail ultimately. He is to be heard, as is any appellant in a criminal case, if he makes a rational argument on the law or facts.”
While Ellis and Coppedge were each concerned with the allowance in forma pauperis of a direct appeal from a judgment of conviction in a criminal case, the principles there announced should be followed in actions upon motions for leave to file, prosecute, or defend an action or proceeding in the district court without the prepayment of fees and costs. The differences between the provision for appeal in 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a) and for dismissal in 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d) are not material.
The issues raised by the petitioner were not frivolous. While the trial court may have felt that they were without merit, the Supreme Court has made it clear that merit or lack of merit is not the test. When a district court receives an application for leave to proceed in forma pauperis, it should examine the papers and determine if the requirements of § 1915(a) are satisfied. If they are, leave should be granted. Thereafter, if the court finds that the allegations of poverty are untrue or that the action is frivolous or malicious, it may dismiss the case but in so doing it should clearly state the grounds for such action.
The orders denying leave- to file in forma pauperis in district court cases Nos. 3230 H.C. and 3236 H.C. are each reversed for further proceedings in harmony with this opinion.
. Roberts v. United States District Court for the Northern District of California, 339 U.S. 844, 845. 70 S.Ct. 954, 94 L.Ed. 1326; Ex parte Quirin, 317 U.S. 1, 24, 63 S.Ct. 1, 87 L.Ed. 3.
. In § 1915(a) it is said that an appeal may not be taken in forma pauperis “if the trial court certifies in writing that it is not taken in good faith.” In § 1915 id) it is said that the court “may dismiss the case if the allegation of poverty is untrue, or if satisfied that the action is frivolous or malicious.”

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

Answer: 1