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:
Leozie PEARSON, Jr. and Carol Pearson, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Harrison DUCK, Defendant-Appellee.
No. 88-3106.
United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.
Argued Nov. 7, 1988.
Decided April 4, 1989.
Ronald G. Macala, Randall Vehar (argued), Green, Haines, Sgambati, Murphy & Macala, Canton, Ohio, for plaintiffs-appellants.
Keith L. Pryatel (argued), John E. Holcomb, Millisor & Nobil, Akron, Ohio, for defendant-appellee.
Before WELLFORD and BOGGS, Circuit Judges, and SIMPSON, District Judge.
The Honorable Charles R. Simpson III, United States District Judge for the Western District of Kentucky, sitting by designation.
BOGGS, Circuit Judge.
The Pearsons appeal the dismissal of their race discrimination action under Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). The trial judge first dismissed on grounds that the suit was time-barred, but then reversed and vacated his judgment, ultimately granting Duck’s motion to dismiss on the grounds that the Pearsons had failed to allege a breach of or refusal to contract, which the judge held was necessary to state a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1981. We affirm.
I
The Pearsons, a black couple, filed suit on June 23, 1987, alleging that Duck, individually and in conspiracy with the City of East Liverpool, deprived them of their rights (as they state them) to “make and enforce contracts, to sue, to be parties, to give evidence, and to receive the benefits of the laws,” all of which are protected by 42 U.S.C. § 1981. On the basis of pendent jurisdiction, the Pearsons also brought a state claim for tortious interference with contract, and Mrs. Pearson claimed loss of consortium.
Duck did not file an answer to the complaint, but instead, filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) on July 14, 1987. He argued that the § 1981 claim was time-barred, and that the Pearsons failed to state a claim under that statute. Duck attached his own affidavit to this motion. The Pearsons filed a brief in opposition, with an affidavit of their attorney-attached. Duck then filed a reply brief; and on August 19, 1987, the Pearsons filed their first discovery request, to which Duck did not respond. Instead, Duck filed a motion to extend the discovery cut-off date. However, prior to ruling on that motion, on September 21, 1987, the trial court dismissed the § 1981 claim on the basis of the statute of limitations, citing this court’s decision in Demery v. City of Youngstown, 818 F.2d 1257 (6th Cir.1987), which held that a one year statute of limitations should be applied retroactively.
Three days later, on September 24, 1987, the district judge vacated his earlier judgment, based on his being apprised of this court’s grant of rehearing and subsequent reversal of its decision regarding the re-troactivity of Demery. The trial judge ordered the parties to brief the issue of the effect of this reversal. On October 27, 1987, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(f), the Pearsons filed a second affidavit of their attorney, attaching the earlier discovery request to it.
On December 31, 1987, the trial judge granted Duck’s motion to dismiss, finding that although the Pearsons’ claim was timely filed, the Pearsons had failed to state a claim under § 1981. Consequently, the district judge declined to exercise pendent jurisdiction over the state claims.
II
The events giving rise to this action began when the Pearsons’ son, who is black, and Duck’s daughter, who is white, became friends in the fall of 1983. Although both sets of parents objected, the children persisted in their friendship. The children would telephone each other occasionally, and when anyone but the other child answered, the children would hang up. The parents met to discuss these phone calls, after which Mr. Pearson claims to have strongly disciplined his son for his behavior, making it clear that these phone calls were to cease. The Pearsons allege that Duck knew or should have known of Pearson’s discipline of his son, and that the calls were not made for the purpose of threatening or harassing the Ducks.
The children persisted in their friendship, and Duck subsequently filed a charge with the City of East Liverpool’s Law Director and/or City Solicitor, alleging that Mr. Pearson was responsible for harassing phone calls made to the Ducks’ residence. On or about September 16, 1983, Mr. Pearson was served with a summons and complaint alleging that he had “made or caused to be made or permitted a telephone call or calls to be made from a telephone under his control for the purpose to abuse, threaten, annoy, or harass another person.” (emphasis in original). An amended complaint, which charged that the alleged actions were “knowingly” made or “knowingly permitted” to be made, cited Ohio Revised Code § 2917.21(A)(1), violation of which is a first degree misdemeanor.
On March 8, 1984, a trial was held in municipal court, at which Mr. Pearson was found guilty and sentenced to thirty days in jail and fined $250, though these penalties were suspended. However, costs were charged against Mr. Pearson. On June 25, 1985, the Court of Appeals of Ohio for the Seventh District reversed the conviction on the basis of a speedy trial violation.
The City, which had prosecuted these charges against Pearson, refused to prosecute similar charges against Duck, although Pearson filed a similar complaint with the City. Nearly two years after the final resolution of the criminal charges against Pearson, the Pearsons filed suit in federal court, alleging that Duck and the Law Director and/or City Solicitor conspired to interfere with the Pearsons’ contractual rights with the telephone company and with their rights to “enforce contracts, sue, be parties, give evidence, and enjoy the full and equal benefits of the laws,” as protected by 42 U.S.C. § 1981. The Pear-sons also alleged that they suffered mental anguish, humiliation, stress, anxiety, and embarrassment, and have been “held up to ridicule within their community as a result of these violations. The City was not named in the suit.
The District Court dismissed, as noted above, reasoning that any attempted interference with the contract between the Pearsons and the telephone company did not result in a disruption of service; there was no breach of contract; and, thus, there was no cause of action under § 1981. The trial judge did not address the Pearsons’ argument that the “equal benefit” and “like punishment” provisions of § 1981 were violated; nor did he resolve the pendent state law claims.
Ill
On appeal, the Pearsons contend that they stated a claim under § 1981, and that their state claims should have been decided by the trial judge. Duck presses his contentions that the suit is time-barred, and that the trial judge was correct in all other respects.
The trial judge found that the Pearsons had failed to state a claim under § 1981 upon which relief could be granted, and thus dismissed the claim under Fed.R. Civ.P. 12(b)(6). Section 1981 states
All persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the same right in every State and Territory to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of persons and property as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, penalties, taxes, licenses, and exactions of every kind, and to no other.
42 U.S.C. § 1981. The trial judge reasoned that the Pearsons could not show any interference with the contract between themselves and the telephone company, and thus they had failed to state a claim. The Pearsons challenge this reasoning, and, in addition, claim that the judge erred in failing to address their contentions regarding the “full and equal benefit” and “like punishment” clauses of the statute.
A
The trial judge dismissed the civil rights claims based on his finding that the Pear-sons’ complaint failed to allege facts sufficient to base a claim of interference with contract. Both the words of the statute and our understanding of its intent lead us to the conclusion that the trial judge was not in error. The language of section 1981 clearly focuses on contractual rights. 42 U.S.C. § 1981. Further, courts have often noted that “§ 1981, by its terms, is designed to protect the right to make and enforce contracts_” London v. Coopers & Lybrand, 644 F.2d 811, 818 (9th Cir.1981). Here, there was no specific statement in the Pearsons’ complaint of how Duck conspired, planned or attempted to interfere, or actually interfered, with the contract between the Pearsons and the phone company, or with the Pearsons’ right to make such a contract. Thus, we find the trial judge’s reasoning persuasive.
B
The Pearsons also claim that the trial judge did not address their claims of violation of the “full and equal benefits” and “like punishment” provisions of section 1981. However, it should be kept in mind that, although the Pearsons have alleged deprivations of the “full and equal benefits” and “like punishment” clauses of § 1981, as well as denial of their rights to sue and be parties, they have named only Duck as a defendant in this suit. If there is an unfairness in the fact that Pearson was prosecuted for conduct apparently similar to that for which Duck was not prosecuted, it cannot be blamed on Duck alone. The Pearsons imply that Duck and the Law Director and/or Solicitor General conspired to deprive them of their rights. However, the Law Director and/or Solicitor General is not named in the suit; and Duck alone could not have caused this type of harm.
IV
As much as this court finds many of the actions surrounding this case to be reprehensible, we do not think that the actions brought by the Pearsons are the proper means for redressing the situation. Thus, they have failed to state a claim for which relief can be granted. We therefore AFFIRM the trial court’s dismissal of this 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