Rule 1-024.Intervention

This rule lets an outsider join a pending case. Intervention is of right—on timely application—when a statute confers an unconditional right, or when the applicant has an interest in the property or transaction at the heart of the case and deciding the case could, as a practical matter, impair its ability to protect that interest, unless existing parties already represent it adequately.

Permissive intervention is available, again on timely application, when a statute gives a conditional right or when the applicant’s claim or defense shares a common question of law or fact with the main action; a government officer or agency may intervene when a party relies on a statute or regulation it administers. In exercising discretion, the court weighs whether intervention would unduly delay or prejudice the original parties. Either way, the would-be intervenor serves a motion stating the grounds, accompanied by a pleading setting out the claim or defense.