BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO, Plaintiff, Appellee, v. DAVID GREENBLATT, ET AL., Defendants, Appellees. THE OFFICIAL SECURED CREDITORS' COMMITTEE OF AMFESCO INDUSTRIES, INC., ETC., Intervenor, Appellant., 964 F.2d 1227
Summary
In a bank's district court action alleging fraud, negligence, and civil conspiracy, a liability policy purchased by the debtor prior to bankruptcy provided defenses to the debtor's officers and accountants. The creditor's committee in the bankruptcy sought intervention in order to modify a protective order entered as part of a settlement and final judgment requiring the destruction of discovery documents. The committee ultimately sought a share of the insurance proceeds. The district court denied intervention on the ground that it lacked authority to impose new, affirmative requirements on the parties after the underlying litigation was concluded. The committee appealed. In the absence of an explicit determination by the district court of the timeliness of the petition for intervention, the court concluded that a temporal inquiry was dispositive and that the record was sufficient for the court to make its own timeliness determination. In applying a four-part test of the timeliness of a...