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 "private business and its executives". 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.

Opinion:
HANNAN et al. v. UNITED STATES.
No. 7771.
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Decided June 29, 1942.
Rehearing Denied Aug. 7, 1942.
STEPHENS, Associate Justice, dissenting in part.
Mr. William T. Hannan, of Washington, D. C, for appellants.
Mr. W. Robert Koerner, Attorney, Department of Justice, pro hac vice, by special leave of Court, with whom Norman M. Littell, Assistant Attorney General, and Messrs. Charles R. Denny, Jr., and Alexander H. Bell, Attorneys, Department of Justice, all of Washington, D. C., were on the brief, for appellee.
Before STEPHENS, MILLER and RUTLEDGE, Associate Justices.
MILLER, Associate Justice.
This appeal is from a decree of the District Court in a condemnation proceeding involving the site of the War Department Building in Washington, D. C. The Government contends that, by reason of their failure to move to set aside the verdict and for a new trial, appellants are foreclosed from maintaining this appeal. But this contention cannot be sustained. We held in Walker v. Hazen, that when condemnation proceedings are brought in the name of the District of Columbia such failure bars an appeal. But this result was reached under a section of the Code, pertinent to such proceedings and not pertinent to condemnation proceedings for the acquisition of land in the District for use of the United States. Proceedings of the latter character are governed by entirely different sections of the Code.
In Willis v. United States, we reviewed, historically, the legislation which eventuated in the divergent and mutually exclusive procedures now required to be followed by the two governments. The sections which govern proceedings brought for the use of the United States contain no counterpart of Section 46, which was interpreted in Walker v. Hazen. Such provisions as appear in those sections, concerning motions for new trial and other proceedings after verdict, are permissive; in sharp contrast to the provisions of Section 46. And the only specified condition of appeal is that it shall be by a party aggrieved by a final judgment.
Evidence was offered -to prove the price which was paid by the United States, following negotiation and purchase, for some of the parcels, other than those of appellants, which constitute the site of the new War Department Building in Washington, D. C. The offer was rejected by the District Court. Appellants, relying upon the case of Washington Home for Incurables v. Hazen, assign this ruling as error. Assuming the admissibility of the evidence, it does not appear that its exclusion in the present case was error. In the first place, the burden is upon the party who offers such evidence to establish as a preliminary fact that the purchase, concerning which evidence is offered, was made without compulsion, coercion or compromise. In the present case this was not done. Consequently, appellants are in no position to complain of its exclusion.
In the second place, the reception of such evidence, in each case, calls for the exercise of discretion by the trial court. Wigmore says that the question should be left to the trial court “in its discretion to exclude such evidence when it does involve a confusion of issues, but otherwise to receive it, * * *.” Where the trial judge is vested with large discretion in the admission and exclusion of evidence to the end that the jury may be placed in the best position to pass judgment upon the ultimate question of fact, the manner of his exercise of that.discretion should not be stigmatized as abusive, except for good reason. In the light of the present record we find no such reason here.
The court excluded opinion evidence as to whether the price paid by appellant for one of the lots in issue was reasonable. The evidence related to a sale made fifteen years prior to the commencement of condemnation proceedings. Conditions in the District of Columbia have changed markedly in the intervening period; the record fails to reveal the witness’ qualifications to testify upon the subject or to give other than hearsay testimony. The relevancy of such speculative evidence is doubtful, and there is no reason to question the ruling.
The District Court excluded evidence of an offer to purchase made to the owner by a third person. The consideration offered consisted in part of other property and, consequently, involved collateral issues concerning its value. There was no error in this ruling.
In conclusion it may be noted that evidence of private sales and expert opinion concerning values of property in the vicinity was freely admitted by the trial court. The record shows that the case was fairly presented, to the end that the jury was in the best position to pass judgment upon the ultimate question of fact. Upon careful consideration of appellants’ contentions we conclude that the judgment of the District Court should be affirmed.
Affirmed.
67 App.D.C. 188, 190, 90 F.2d 502, 504, certiorari denied 302 U.S. 723, 58 S.Ct. 44, 82 L.Ed. 559. See also, Shannon & Luehs Const. Co. v. Reichelderfer, 61 App.D.C. 36, 57 F.2d 402.
D.C.Code (1929) tit. 25, § 46.
See Willis v. United States, 69 App. D.C. 129, 131, 99 F.2d 362, 364.
D.C.Code (1929) tit. 25, §§ lOO-llOo.
69 App.D.0. 129, 130, 99 F.2d 362, 363.
D.C.Code (1929) tit. 25, §§ 50 and HOo.
D.C.Code (1929) tit. 25, §§ llOe, f, g.
D.C.Code (1929) tit. 25, § llOi. See also, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 46, 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c.
63 App.D.C. 185, 70 F.2d 847.
See O’Malley v. Commonwealth, 182 Mass. 196, 65 N.E. 30; Eames v. Southern New Hampshire Hydro-Electric Corp., 85 N.H. 379, 159 A. 128. Cf. Albert Hanson Lumber Co., Ltd. v. United States, 261 U.S. 581, 589, 43 S.Ct. 442, 67 L.Ed. 809. Contra: United States ex rel. and for Use of Tennessee Valley Authority v. Bailey, 5 Cir., 115 F.2d 433, 434; United States ex rel. and for Use of Tennessee Valley Authority v. Reynolds, 5 Cir., 115 F.2d 294, 296; Wise v. United States, D.C.W.D.Ky., 38 F .Supp. 130, 134; United States v. Beaty, D.C., W.D.Va., 198 F. 284, 291, reversed on other grounds, 4 Cir., 203 F. 620, writ of error dismissed on procedural ground, 232 U.S. 463, 34 S.Ct. 392, 58 L.Ed. 686; United States v. Freeman, D.C.D.Wash., 113 F. 370, 371. See also, Notes, 32 Col.L.Rev. 1053; 118 A. L.R. 869, 893 ; 43 L.R.A..N.S., 985.
1 Wigmore, Evidence (3d Ed.1940) § 18(E); Kankakee Park Dist. v. Heidenreich, 328 Ill. 198, 204, 159 N.E. 289, 292; Wright v. Commonwealth, 286 Mass. 371, 373, 374, 190 N.E. 593, 594; State Highway Commission v. Buchanan, 175 Miss. 157, 189, 190, 166 So. 537, 538.
Ornstein v. Chesapeake & O. R. Co., Ohio App., 36 N.E.2d 521, S26; Kankakee Park Dist. v. Heidenreich, 328 Ill. 198, 204, 159 N.E. 289, 292; City of Mt. Olive v. Braje, 366 Ill. 132, 136, 7 N.E. 2d 851, 854.
Kankakee Park Dist. v. Heidenreich, 328 Ill. 198, 204, 159 N.E. 289, 292; Wright v. Commonwealth, 286 Mass. 371, 373, 190 N.E. 593, 594.
2 Wigmore, Evidence (3d Ed. 1940) § 463.
Franzen v. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. Co., 7 Cir., 278 F. 370; United States v. Nickerson, 1 Cir., 2 F.2d 502. See Washington Home for Incurables v. Hazen, 63 App.D.C. 185, 70 F.2d 847.
Maryland Cas. Co. v. Citizens State Bank, 5 Cir., 84 F.2d 172, 174; Brigham Young Univ. v. Lillywhite, 10 Cir., 118 F.2d 836, 841, 137 A.L.R. 598, cer-tiorari denied 314 U.S. 638, 62 S.Ct. 73, 86 L.Ed. 512; Robinson v. Parker, 11 App.D.C. 132, 138; Washington Times Co. v. Bonner, 66 App.D.C. 280, 290, 86 F.2d 836, 846, 110 A.L.R. 393; District of Columbia v. Chessin, 61 App.D.C. 260, 264, 61 F.2d 523, 527.
Cf. United States v. Freeman, D.C. D.Wash., 113 F. 370.
3 Wigmore, Evidence (3d Ed. 1940) § 718.
3 Wigmore, Evidence (3d Ed. 1940) § 719.
Cf. Hall v. Providence, 45 R.I. 167, 169, 121 A. 66, 67, admitting the testimony of an expert as to the reasonableness of the price paid for improvements on the property taken. But the transaction there was recent. Franzen v. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. Co., 7 Cir., 278 F. 370, 373.
Sharp v. United States, 191 U.S. 341, 348 — 350, 24 S.Ct. 114, 48 L.Ed. 211; Jefferson Park District v. Sowinski, 336 Ill. 390, 168 N.E. 370. Cf. Erceg v. Fairbanks Exploration Co., 9 Cir., 95 F. 2d 850, 853, 854, certiorari denied 305 U.S. 615, 59 S.Ct. 74, 83 L.Ed. 392; Notes, 84 L.Ed. 248; 32 Col.L.Rev. 1053, 1058.

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

Choices:

Answer: 99