Opinion ID: 1270902
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: intervention and standing

Text: The taxpayer asserted his claim for protection of his bank records from unreasonable governmental intrusion in a motion to intervene in the proceeding for the issuance of the subpoena [section 39-21-112(3), C.R. S.1973] and in a motion to quash the subpoena to the bank. [7] The director of the Department of Revenue argues that the taxpayer has no expectation of privacy in his bank records and thus no interest to support intervention in the subpoena proceeding and no standing to file the motion to quash. The taxpayer's motion to intervene is based on C.R.C.P. 24(a): [8] Upon timely application anyone shall be permitted to intervene in an action . . . . . (2) when the applicant claims an interest relating to the property or transaction which is the subject of the action and he is so situated that the disposition of the action may as a practical matter impair or impede his ability to protect that interest, unless the applicant's interest is adequately represented by existing parties. Our declaration of an expectation of privacy in bank records satisfies the rule requirement of an interest relating to the property or transaction which is the subject of the action. The taxpayer's ability to protect that interest may be impaired or impeded if he is not allowed to intervene. Although he could challenge the propriety of the subpoena in tax deficiency or criminal proceedings, by then the privacy of his records has been breached, and the information contained in the records is possessed by the government. Finally, the taxpayer's privacy interest in his bank records cannot be adequately represented when, as here, the bank, the custodian of the records, chose not to appear at the subpoena hearing. The trial court's order allowing the taxpayer's intervention was proper because the taxpayer's expectation of privacy is an interest sufficient to support intervention of right. C.R.C.P. 24(a)(2). [9] Once the court allows intervention, it follows that a taxpayer with an expectation of privacy in his bank records has standing to raise the legitimacy of governmental access to the records in a motion to quash the subpoena for the records. C.R. C.P. 45(b). The motion to quash requires the director of the Department of Revenue to justify access to the taxpayer's bank records under the standards of section 39-21-112(3), C.R.S.1973, infra.