Hulinsky v. County of Westchester County Department of Public Safety

Background

All Women’s Medical Office Based Surgery, PLLC (AWM) moved to intervene in the lawsuit under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a) and 24(b). Intervention would have allowed AWM to become a party to the case. The County of Westchester stated that it supported AWM’s request to intervene. AWM filed its motion on March 15, 2023, and the motion was fully submitted after briefing.

The lawsuit challenges provisions of Chapter 425. The court had previously stated that Chapter 425 was enacted to protect people seeking access to reproductive health care facilities and services, both inside and outside those facilities. AWM argued that invalidating Chapter 425 could affect its ability to operate, its financial and reputational interests, and the safety and privacy of its staff and patients.

Legal standards

For intervention as of right under Rule 24(a)(2), a proposed intervenor must show four things: the request was timely; the applicant has an interest related to the case; resolving the case could practically impair that interest; and the existing parties do not adequately represent it. Failure to satisfy any one of these requirements is enough to deny intervention as of right.

Permissive intervention under Rule 24(b) is discretionary. It may be allowed when the proposed intervenor has a claim or defense sharing a common legal or factual question with the main case. The court must also consider whether intervention would cause undue delay or prejudice to the original parties.

Analysis

The court held that AWM’s motion was timely. AWM learned of the lawsuit in fall 2022, learned the plaintiffs’ identities when an amended complaint was filed on November 23, 2022, obtained counsel around January 4, 2023, and filed its motion on February 3, 2023. The court found no significant prejudice from the delay. It also noted that the case was still in its early stages: there had been no initial pretrial conference, no discovery deadlines had been set, and no discovery had occurred.

The court also found that AWM had an interest related to the subject of the lawsuit. Because AWM was a reproductive health care facility that could benefit from Chapter 425, the court concluded that AWM had a direct, substantial, and legally protectable interest. The court further found that a decision changing Chapter 425’s protections could impair AWM’s ability to protect that interest.

The court ruled, however, that AWM had not shown that the County would inadequately represent its interests. AWM and the County shared the same goal of upholding Chapter 425. The County had already vigorously defended the law by successfully opposing the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction. AWM’s concern that the County might later change its position was speculative and did not overcome the presumption that the County adequately represented AWM’s aligned interests. The court therefore denied intervention as of right because AWM failed to satisfy the representation requirement.

The court also declined to allow permissive intervention. It concluded that AWM’s interests were aligned with the County’s and that allowing AWM to defend the case alongside the County would add complexity and could delay resolution of the action.

Disposition

The court denied AWM’s motion to intervene under both Rule 24(a) and Rule 24(b). The Clerk of Court was directed to terminate the pending motion. The order did not decide the underlying constitutional challenge to Chapter 425.