Opinion ID: 2796188
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Amorphous Nature of Appellants

Text: Although appellants address the issue of whether they established the three requirements for intervention as a matter of law as their first point on appeal, it is necessary for us to first review the circuit court’s ruling that appellants were too amorphous to allow intervention. Appellants argue that the circuit court erred in so ruling because their use of shorthand to identify the underwriters by reference to policy numbers clarified that all members of the relevant syndicates were being sued individually. According to appellants, the term “Underwriters,” along with the policy number, is a reference to the various persons or entities who subscribe to policies as part of a Lloyd’s syndicate. Appellees counter that the circuit court correctly held that appellants were too amorphous for intervention and, moreover, that appellants have forfeited any chance to remedy any defects in their pleadings. According to appellees, the party designation of “Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London subscribing to [specified policies]” was insufficient, was tantamount to an attempt to proceed anonymously, and is demonstrative of the fact that the names of those “Certain Underwriters” were never offered into the record. Appellees aver that it was proper for the circuit court to deny intervention on this basis where the record does not contain the names of the alien individuals and corporations who assert that they insured appellees’ policies. Moreover, appellees argue that there is no statute that gives “Certain Underwriters” the capacity or personhood necessary to proceed as intervenors. This court has discussed the concept of a group being amorphous in the context of class-certification appeals and has made clear that a class must be susceptible to definition and 10 Cite as 2015 Ark. 178 cannot be amorphous or imprecise. Teris, LLC v. Chandler, 375 Ark. 70, 289 S.W.3d 63 (2008). Such a rule requires that a class be defined with precision. In the instant case, appellees argue that appellants’ attempt to proceed as “Certain Underwriters” rendered appellants amorphous in the sense that no one, not the parties or the court, knew the names of the actual insurers. But, appellees also argued, in this same vein, that it would be unduly burdensome to allow appellants to intervene when the names of the individuals amounted to thirty or forty thousand. Turning first to the issue of ascertaining the names of the insurers, appellees cite to the case of Doe v. Weiss, 2010 Ark. 150, in support of their claim. In that case, this court affirmed the circuit court’s order denying a request by the plaintiffs to proceed anonymously. The plaintiffs, who were undocumented aliens, filed suit using pseudonyms against the director of the Department of Finance and Administration challenging the constitutionality of a statute requiring, among other things, proof of an individual’s social security number and lawful immigration status before issuing a driver’s license or identification card to that person. This court concluded that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in finding that the appellants did not provide a sufficient reason to permit the use of pseudonyms to overcome the prejudice that the State would incur trying to defend an action against an anonymous party. Id. Clearly, the decision in Doe is inapposite. Appellants have never sought to proceed anonymously, despite appellees’ repeated assertions that appellants were attempting to proceed under a “cloak of anonymity.” Moreover, nothing in Doe speaks to appellees’ contention that “Certain Underwriters” is an unincorporated association not capable of suing or being sued 11 Cite as 2015 Ark. 178 in Arkansas courts. It is true that an unincorporated association cannot, in the absence of a statute authorizing it, be sued in its societal or company name, but all the members must be made parties, since such bodies have, in the absence of statute, no legal entity distinct from that of their members. Baskins v. United Mine Workers of Am., 150 Ark. 398, 234 S.W. 464 (1921). In Curators of Central College v. Bird, 148 Ark. 323, 229 S.W. 730 (1921), this court explained that suits must be instituted or defended by persons, either natural or artificial. Here, appellees aver, without any proof, that “Certain Underwriters” is an unincorporated association, but this allegation is contrary to the evidence. During the hearing, counsel for appellants stated that the underlying action involved sixty-three insurance policies that were made up of thirty-three different syndicates, with those syndicates consisting of an estimated thirty or forty thousand individual names. As appellants pointed out, however, they attached to their motions to intervene affidavits of defendant brokers who actually dealt with appellees. Therein the defendant brokers averred that they had identified each of the policies at issue and all of the syndicates on those policies. The defendant brokers further averred that they had access to a list of the subscribers, otherwise known as the underwriters, and that they believed this information had been produced by counsel during discovery at appellees’ request. Accordingly, we agree with appellants that their mere use of the shorthand reference “Certain Underwriters” to describe the numerous insurers of these policies did not render them amorphous such that it was proper for the circuit court to deny their motion to intervene as a matter of right. 12 Cite as 2015 Ark. 178