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:
SCHNELL et al. v. UNITED STATES.
Circuit Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.
February 4, 1929.
No. 165.
Charles H. Tuttle, U. S. Atty., of New York City (William E. Collins, Sp. Asst. U. S. Atty., of New York City, of counsel), for the United States.
Joffe & Joffe, of New York City (Joseph Joffe, of New York City, of counsel), for appellees.
Before MANTON, SWAN, and AUGUSTUS N. HAND, Circuit Judges.
MANTON, Circuit Judge.
This suit seeks to recover cargo damages to onions shipped from Buenos Aires, Argentine, to New York City, N. Y., on March 3, 1922. The cargo arrived on March 24, 1922, and some of the 2,200 cases, although shipped in good condition, wore damaged when landed.
We need not consider the merits of the controversy as to what caused the damage, or whether the vessel was negligent in the stowage, beeauso the failure to file this suit within three months after giving notice of claim, as required by a condition of the bill of lading, is fatal to its maintenance. Clause 15 of the bill of lading provides: “The carriers shall nob be liable for any claim whatsoever unless written notice thereof shall he given to the carrier before removal of the goods from the wharf. No suit to recover for loss or damage shall in any event be maintainable against the carrier unless instituted within three months after the giving of written notice, as above provided. No agent or employee shall have authority to waive any of the requirements of this clause.”
Notice of claim was filed March 25, 1922. The libel was not filed until June 29, 1922. These dates are not in dispute. While the Admiralty Act of March 9, 1920 (chapter 95, § 5,41 Stat. 525 [46 USCA § 745]) grants two years after the cause of action, arises to institute suits, still the parties may contract to a lesser period, and sucli clauses found in the bills of lading are regarded as reasonable. M., K. & T. Ry. Co. v. Harriman, 227 U. S. 657, 33 S. Ct. 397, 57 L. Ed. 690; Turret Crown (C. C. A.) 284 F. 439; The Susquehanna (C. C. A.) 296 F. 461. The Suits in Admiralty Act was not intended to invalidate existing contracts, good when made. Leigh Ellis & Co. v. Davis, 260 U. S. 682, 43 S. Ct. 243, 67 L. Ed. 460. The appellees are under the burden of showing compliance with this provision of the bill of lading before they can succeed. The Cudahy Packing Co. v. Munson 8. S. Line (C. C. A.) 22 F.(2d) 898; The General Geo. W. Goethals (C. C. A.) 298 F. 935; The San Guglielmo (C. C. A.) 249 F. 588; The Persiana (C. C. A.) 185 F. 396.
The answer did not plead as a defense the commencement of the action after the three months period. But it was amply established at the trial that the suit was not commenced until after the three months period. An application was made and denied to amend the answer, so as to plead this defense. In view of the state of the record at that time, it was an abuso of discretion to refuse the amendment. The appellant’s delay in pleading this defense in no way prejudiced the appellees. Nor did it waive the defense. Correspondence or pending negotiations may have constituted a waiver. The W. R. Grace & Co. v. Panama R. Co. (C. C. A.) 12 F.(2d) 338. But there were none. The bill of lading, specifying the limitation of three months, was in the appellee’s hands when the pleadings wore drawn and the libel was filed. It is not enough to say that there was substantial compliance with the provisions of the bill of lading. The record established that the suit was brought too late, and it will not sustain the decree below. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Burnette, 239 U. S. 199, 36 S. Ct. 75, 60 L. Ed. 226; The Harrisburg, 119 U. S. 199, 7 S. Ct. 140, 30 L. Ed. 358.
The decree is reversed, with direetions to dismiss the libel, with costs.

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: 0