Bakhtiari v. Walton et al

Filing 53

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER, The Court DENIES Smiths motion to intervene and for status (Doc. 52 ). The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to send a copy of this order to Smith and to terminate him from this case. Signed by Judge J. Phil Gilbert on 6/9/2014. (jdh)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
ALIREZA BAKHTIARI,
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No. 13-cv-906-JPG

J. WALTON, UNITED STATES of
AMERICA, M. WINKLMEIER, M.
BAGWELL, D. SZOKE, L. DUNCAN, J.
BAGWELL, and R. STRAUSS,
Defendants.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
This matter comes before the Court on a motion to intervene and for status filed by Thomas
M. Smith (Doc. 52). The Court dismissed this case filed by plaintiff Alireza Bakhtiari for
injunctive relief and entered judgment of dismissal without prejudice on February 10, 2014 (Docs.
44 & 45). The time for appealing the Court’s judgment has passed. Smith seeks to intervene
because he believes he will be subject to the same objectionable conduct about which Bakhtiari
complained in this case.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a) provides for intervention of right to any person who
“is given an unconditional right to intervene by a federal statute” or who has an interest in the
subject matter of the action and needs to participate in the litigation to protect that interest. On the
other hand, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(b) provides for permissive intervention by anyone
who “(A) is given a conditional right to intervene by a federal statute; or (B) has a claim or defense
that shares with the main action a common question of law or fact.”
As a preliminary matter, the Court notes that this case is over and there is nothing more to
be done or decided. There is no live proceeding in which Smith can intervene. More

importantly, he has not cited any statutory authority either requiring or permitting intervention,
and he has not demonstrated he needs to participate in this terminated action to protect his rights.
Neither has he pointed to any common question of law or fact he shares with this closed case.
Accordingly, intervention is not warranted.
For this reason, the Court DENIES Smith’s motion to intervene and for status (Doc. 52).
The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to send a copy of this order to Smith and to terminate him from
this case.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED: June 9, 2014
s/J. Phil Gilbert
J. PHIL GILBERT
DISTRICT JUDGE

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