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.

Opinion:
AMALGAMATED MEAT CUTTERS AND BUTCHER WORKMEN OF NORTH AMERICA, LOCAL UNION 576, Appellant, v. Robert E. ALLEN, Regional Director, Seventeenth Region of the National Labor Relations Board, Appellee.
No. 19755.
United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.
March 19, 1970.
Jerome F. Waterman, of Houlehan & Waterman, Kansas City, Mo., for appellant ; Robert L. Kimbrough, Topeka, Kan., on the brief.
Michael F. Rosenblum, Atty., N.L.R.B., Washington, D. C., for appellee; Arnold Ordman, Gen. Counsel, N.L.R.B., Dominick L. Manoli, Assoc. Gen. Counsel, N.L.R.B., Marcel Mallet-Prevost, Asst. Gen. Counsel, N.L.R.B., and Glen M. Bendixsen, Attorney, N.L.R.B., on the brief.
Before BLACKMUN, GIBSON and LAY, Circuit Judges.
LAY, Circuit Judge.
A suit for declaratory judgment was commenced in the district court by the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, Local Union 576 (hereinafter called Amalgamated) against Robert E. Allen, a Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board. The purpose of the complaint was to set aside a representation election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board pursuant to Section 9 of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 159. Jurisdiction of the district court was allegedly premised upon the denial of due process in failing to give the union proper notice of a representation hearing. The district court denied relief and dismissed the action for (1) lack of equity, (2) lack of jurisdiction and (3) failure of the union to exhaust its administrative remedies. 298 F.Supp. 985 (W.D.Mo.1969). We affirm.
The facts reveal that plaintiff was notified by registered mail as to the representation hearing to be held by a hearing officer of the Board on November 8, 1968. However, Amalgamated asserts that pursuant to an earlier inquiry by the Board’s field examiner its representatives had informed him that November 14, 1968, was the earliest possible date they could attend. On the morning of November 5, 1968, after the notice as to the November 8 hearing had been mailed, but before the notice was received by plaintiff, the hearing officer contacted plaintiff’s representative to see whether plaintiff was going to be present. Plaintiff’s representative restated to the hearing officer that no one could be present until November 14. According to plaintiff’s evidence the hearing officer responded by telling him that “I will see what can be done.” (The latter statement was denied by the hearing officer.) On the same afternoon the union representative received the notice of the November 8 hearing. No further contact between the parties was made. The certification proceeding was held on November 8, 1968, as scheduled.
Amalgamated was not present at the hearing and its name was not placed on the ballot. The independent union which had originally petitioned for the election won the election by a vote of thirteen to three and was certified. Amalgamated did not move for a rehearing or otherwise pursue administrative review as required under Section 102.67 of the Board's rules and regulations. See United States v. L. A. Tucker Truck Lines, Inc., 344 U.S. 33, 36-37, 73 S.Ct. 67, 97 L.Ed. 54 (1952). Plaintiff filed this action directly in the district court on the ground that it was denied constitutional due process by ineffective notice. Plaintiff asserts that the district court has jurisdiction under Fay v. Douds, 172 F.2d 720 (2 Cir. 1949). We need not decide the viability of Fay v. Douds, supra, since the facts clearly show plaintiff’s claim of constitutional encroachment to be wholly frivolous.
Assuming all of plaintiff’s allegations to be true and, arguendo, that plaintiff would not be required to pursue its administrative remedy, there is no showing of any constitutional deficiency of notice. The notice involved was reasonably calculated to apprise the interested party of the pendency of the action and afforded Amalgamated an opportunity to present its position and objections. See Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306, 70 S.Ct. 652, 94 L.Ed. 865 (1950); Covey v. Town of Somers, 351 U.S. 141, 76 S.Ct. 724, 100 L.Ed. 1021 (1956); Walker v. City of Hutchinson, 352 U.S. 112, 77 S.Ct. 200, 1 L.Ed.2d 178 (1956); Sniadach v. Family Fin. Corp., 395 U.S. 337, 89 S.Ct. 1820, 23 L.Ed.2d 349 (1969); cf. Heeney v. Miner, 421 F.2d 434 (8 Cir. February 18, 1970). The evidence demonstrates that notice of the proceedings was given to plaintiff. The most that can be gleaned from plaintiff’s argument is that it relied upon the statement of the hearing officer to the effect that he would look into the apparent conflict as to dates and “see what he can do.” No further communication was made and plaintiff’s representatives made no effort to ascertain whether the registered notice received on November 5, 1968, was to be withdrawn or the hearing continued. At best, the union’s argument rises only to the level of some obtuse form of equitable estoppel which equity itself would be bound to deny. There was never a statement made by the Board upon which a reasonable person could in good faith rely. The basis of the district court’s holding upon which we affirm is that the facts proven fail to establish federal jurisdiction to otherwise review a certification proceeding. See Boire v. Greyhound Corporation, 376 U.S. 473, 84 S.Ct. 894, 11 L.Ed.2d 849 (1964); American Federation of Labor v. NLRB, 308 U.S. 401, 60 S.Ct. 300, 84 L.Ed. 347 (1940).
Judgment affirmed.
. Independent Meat Cutters Union.
. The Second Circuit in Fay v. Douds, supra, held that a district court might review a certification proceeding if a constitional question, not transparently frivolous is raised.

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

Choices:

Answer: 0