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:
John PARKER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Ray GRAVES, Defendant-Appellee.
No. 72-2265.
United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.
June 13, 1973.
John Parker, pro se.
W. C. O’Neal, Gainesville, Fla., for defendant-appellee.
Before GOLDBERG, AINSWORTH and INGRAHAM, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
John Parker, a second-year law student, was employed by the University of Florida Athletic Association as a dormitory advisor, assistant track coach and meal checker at the athletic training table. He was discharged from his duties and sought relief by bringing a civil rights action against Ray Graves, the athletic director of the University. From an adverse decision in the trial court, D.C., 340 F.Supp. 586, Parker timely pursued the present appeal.
At the outset we are confronted with the determination of whether or not a motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim for which relief could be granted and for a lack of subject matter jurisdiction should have been granted.
The caption of the complaint names the defendant in his individual capacity without reference to his official capacity as an agent of the State University system. An action under 42 U. S.C. § 1983 does not lie as against a private person in his individual capacity. It is only where the person acts to deprive another of his federal rights under color of state law that § 1983 provides authority for a federal claim. An action against a state official is not authorized by § 1983 where the official has acted in a purely private individual capacity.
A person’s capacity need not be pled except to the extent required to show the jurisdiction of the court. Fed.R.Civ.P. 9(a). Failure to allege the official capacity in the caption is merely a formal error and not a fatal defect. 5 Wright and Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure, § 1321 (1969). The allegations in the complaint must be examined in order to determine the nature of the plaintiff’s cause of action.
In his pro se complaint, Parker alleged that his dismissal was premised on constitutionally impermissible reasons and was procured by the defendant acting under color of state law in his official capacity as the University’s athletic director. The allegations taken as a whole bring the case within the authorization of 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and therefore the motion to dismiss was properly denied.
The district court entered findings to the effect that the plaintiff was discharged for being remiss in his assigned duties and ineffective as an employee. The findings are based on conflicting evidence and we have determined that they are not clearly erroneous.
The judgment of the district court is affirmed.
. The trial court did strike two allegations of causes of action.

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