Opinion ID: 2410348
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Standing and timeliness

Text: ABC was not a party to the litigation in which it filed the motion to unseal the settlement agreement. As the Alabama Supreme Court held in Holland v. Eads, 614 So.2d 1012 (Ala.1993), a motion to intervene is the proper means of asserting the public's right to open court records. No motion to intervene was made in this case. The parties have not raised any question about ABC's standing in the matter. Despite these lapses, we have no hesitancy in treating this as a case in which there was a post-judgment motion to intervene for the purpose of unsealing the records. Arkansas R.Civ.P. 24 permits timely intervention. No time limit is stated. The timeliness of intervention is within the discretion of the Trial Court, and permitting intervention will not be considered error due to untimeliness unless there has been an abuse of discretion. See Bank of Quitman v. Phillips, 270 Ark. 53, 603 S.W.2d 450 (Ark. App.1980). When there are unusual and compelling circumstances, we permit intervention even after a final judgment has been entered. UHS of Arkansas, Inc. v. City of Sherwood, 296 Ark. 97, 752 S.W.2d 36 (1988). Cf. Beckman Industries, Inc. v. International Ins. Co., 966 F.2d 470 (9th Cir.1992), in which the compelling need and extraordinary circumstances tests were rejected in favor of allowing post-judgment intervention to seek modification of a protective discovery order to meet the reasonable needs of other parties in other litigation. The circumstances in this case are indeed unusual and compelling. ABC sought to discover information about the litigation between McKane and Robbins in a federal court which in turn referred them to the Sebastian Chancery Court. In ordinary or usual circumstances, the information would be a matter of public record. That, coupled with the public's interest in open judicial proceedings, which we regard as compelling, causes us to conclude the attempt to intervene was not untimely.