Opinion ID: 516495
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: hull and nahant s.w.i.m.

Text: 13 The FWPCA provides that if the State has commenced a lawsuit to require compliance with an effluent standard or limitation or an order with respect to such a standard or limitation, any citizen may intervene as a matter of right in any such action. 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1365(b)(1)(B). The district court held that the intervenors were too late to intervene on the liability issue, and too early to intervene on the enforcement issue. It held that effluent limitations were no longer at issue because the liability phase of the case was completed, and only issues of enforcement remained. It also held that [u]ntil the outfall is finally sited and a standard imposed which is threatened by the development of a sewage (sic) system which includes the outfall, the only prerequisite to maintaining an intervention motion has not been met. United States v. Metropolitan District Commission, 679 F.Supp. 1154, 1159 (D.Mass.1988). 14 Fed.R.Civ.P. 24 dictates that any motion to intervene must be timely. 4 See NAACP v. New York, 413 U.S. 345, 365, 93 S.Ct. 2591, 2603, 37 L.Ed.2d 648 (1973). We have established four factors for evaluating the timeliness issue: (i) the length of time the prospective intervenors knew or reasonably should have known of their interest before they petitioned to intervene; (ii) the prejudice to existing parties due to the intervenor's failure to petition for intervention promptly; (iii) the prejudice the prospective intervenors would suffer if not allowed to intervene; and (iv) the existence of unusual circumstances militating for or against intervention. Culbreath v. Dukakis, 630 F.2d 15, 20-24 (1st Cir.1980). See also Garrity v. Gallen, 697 F.2d 452, 455 (1st Cir.1983); United Nuclear Corp. v. Cannon, 696 F.2d 141, 143 (1st Cir.1982). 15 The district court carefully addressed each of these factors and concluded: (i) that it had been obvious since the inception of the MWRA in 1985 that one solution to the disposal problem was the construction of an outfall somewhere in the Massachusetts Bay, United States v. Metropolitan District Commission, 679 F.Supp. at 1160; (ii) that any attempt to relitigate decided issues would clearly prejudice the existing parties and [a]llowing intervention, even if limited to the specific issue of the outfall, necessarily brings with it the risk that other, settled issues ... would also be implicated, id. at 1161-62; (iii) that the prospective intervenors would not be prejudiced because it is not at all clear that the construction of the treatment plant and outfall pipe will necessarily result in violation of any effluent standard and that the towns had other avenues for influencing the decisions relating to the location of the outfall pipe, as such decisions will not be made by the court, but by the parties in political and administrative fora open to the influence of the petitioners, id. at 1163 (emphasis in original); and (iv) that the magnitude and importance of this case requires bringing the pollution of Boston Harbor under meaningful control as soon as possible ... [and that] the introduction of new parties into this case at this time will fundamentally change the dynamics of the processes at work in this case, id. at 1164. 16 The Supreme Court has established that the standard of review on an appeal of timeliness is abuse of discretion. 17 Timeliness is to be determined from all the circumstances. And it is to be determined by the court in the exercise of its sound discretion; unless that discretion is abused, the court's ruling will not be disturbed on review. 18 NAACP v. New York, 413 U.S. at 366, 93 S.Ct. at 2603. We have followed this teaching. 19 The determination of timeliness is within the sound discretion of the district court; we cannot disturb the district court's findings on this point unless an abuse of discretion has been demonstrated. 20 Garrity v. Gallen, 697 F.2d at 455. See also United Nuclear Corp. v. Cannon, 696 F.2d at 143; Culbreath v. Dukakis, 630 F.2d at 24. 21 We have reviewed the timeliness analysis that was undertaken by the district court against the Culbreath standards, and find that there was no abuse of discretion. The district court is in the best position to judge the impact of intervention at this time in this complex ongoing litigation that has already consumed years of attention by the court. There is nothing in the record to suggest that the district court abused its discretion in coming to the conclusions it did. [T]he purpose of the basic requirement that the application to intervene be timely is to prevent last minute disruption of painstaking work by the parties and the court. Culbreath v. Dukakis, 630 F.2d at 22. We believe that the district court has reasonably concluded that such a disruption would occur if intervention was permitted at this juncture. The towns have the option of pursuing their concerns regarding the location of the outflow pipe in the administrative arena where the decision of the pipe location is to be made. Moreover, if after the location decision is made by the agency, the towns still feel that their interests will be harmed, they will be able to avail themselves of judicial remedies at that point; they can seek judicial review of whether the agency has satisfied its obligations under NEPA and the applicable state statutes. 22 The appeals of Cohasset and Scituate are dismissed as untimely. As to the remaining appellants, the district court's denial of the motion to intervene is affirmed.