Opinion
Civil No. 04-492-HO.
October 5, 2004
ORDER
Weyerhaeuser Company seeks reconsideration of the order denying its motion to intervene as of right, or with permission of the court. The motion for reconsideration is granted. Upon reconsideration, the court continues to find Weyerhaeuser has not demonstrated entitlement to intervene as of right, for the reasons stated in the order dated August 5, 2004. The court also finds on reconsideration, however, that Weyerhaeuser has standing to challenge the legality of the city's revenue tax. Although Weyerhaeuser is not directly liable to the city for the tax and has denied contractual liability to its natural gas supplier, Weyerhaeuser's cost of doing business will almost certainly rise should the tax be upheld, regardless of whether Weyerhaeuser is contractually liable to its supplier. See General Motors Corp. v. Tracy, 519 U.S. 278, 286 (1997) (holding buyer of natural gas from out of state supplier had standing to raise commerce clause challenge to exemption of local suppliers from sales and use taxes because buyer was presumably injured by discrimination against out of state supplier). Weyerhaeuser has thus alleged a sufficiently imminent injury to confer standing for its counterclaim for declaratory relief.
It is undisputed that Weyerhaeuser's counterclaim and defenses share common questions of law with the main action. All of the defenses contained in Weyerhaeuser's proposed answer are asserted in IGI's answer. No dispositive motions have been filed. The court thus concludes that permitting Weyerhaeuser to intervene will not unduly delay the litigation or cause prejudice to the existing parties. Pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 24(b)(2), Weyerhaeuser is permitted to intervene.
Conclusion
Based on the foregoing, Weyerhaeuser's motion for reconsideration [#27] is granted. Upon reconsideration, Weyerhaeuser's motion to intervene [#11] is granted.
IT IS SO ORDERED.