Ballard v. Garrett

¶1Justice, concurring. I agree with the conclusion reached in the majority opinion and write only to clarify that our holding is limited to the facts of this case. Appellee Garrett commenced this class action on October 13, 1999. At least as early as April 2000, appellants were aware of this lawsuit when their attorney referred appellant Kenisha Bryant to appellee Garrett’s attorney in order for her to participate in the lawsuit. Thus, at that time, appellants would have known the scope of appellee Garrett’s class action; that is, which defendants had been sued and what claims were being pursued. Yet, appellants did not seek to intervene until fourteen months later, asserting that other claims and'other defendants should have been pursued by appellee Garrett. It should be noted that in the interim, appellants had filed a separate cause of action against appellee Advance America in federal court. When appellants attempted to intervene here, their federal lawsuit had already been dismissed by the U.S. District Court.1 The motion to intervene came less than two weeks before the settlement-approval hearing, and the trial court noted that it came after “there ha[d] been extensive pleadings and discovery[.]” Appellants’ intervention would have prejudiced the more than 19,000 class members who did not object, as well as appellee Advance America after it had bargained in good faith to reach the settlement agreement.