Entergy Arkansas, LLC v. Arkansas Electric Energy Consumers, Inc., No. 23-1228 (8th Cir. 2023)
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Entergy Arkansas, LLC, sells electricity to Arkansans. The Arkansas Public Service Commission sets the retail rates that Entergy can charge. Arkansas Electric Energy Consumers, Inc. (“AEEC”) is a trade association comprised of large industrial and agricultural Entergy customers. Entergy asked the Commission for permission to raise its retail rates. AEEC intervened, urging the Commission to deny Entergy’s request. The Commission ultimately did so. Entergy then sued the Commission in September 2020, alleging that the denial violated federal and state law. The Commission promptly moved to dismiss, but the district court denied its motion. Entergy moved for summary judgment. A week later—about twenty-two months after the suit commenced—AEEC moved to intervene as of right or, alternatively, to intervene permissively. AEEC appealed only the denial of its motion for the intervention of right under Rule 24(a)(2).
The Eighth Circuit affirmed the denial. The court explained that the Commission’s trial presentation does not evince the sort of “misfeasance or nonfeasance in protecting the public” necessary to overcome the presumption of adequacy. The court explained that the Commission has maintained throughout this litigation that the lawfulness of its denial must be evaluated solely on the basis of the evidence presented in the administrative proceeding (in which AEEC participated) and that additional evidence before the district court is, therefore, unnecessary. AEEC, therefore, has not shown that the Commission inadequately represents its interest in this litigation, as required by Rule 24(a)(2).
Court Description: [Gruender, Author, with Kelly and Grasz, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Civil Procedure. The district court did not err in denying AEEC's motion to intervene as of right under Fed. R. Civ. P. 24(a)(2); AEEC's interests aligned squarely with the defendant Arkansas Public Service Commission's interests, and the Commission's trial presentation did not evince the sort of misfeasance or nonfeasance in protecting the public interest needed to overcome the presumption that the Commission's representation was adequate. [ August 08, 2023 ]
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