Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Pennsylvania
Contempt of Court
In 1996 the taxpayer's group I belong to filed suit against our school board for sunshine law violations. The taxpayer's group obtained an injunction against the school board to enjoin them from any further violations. In November of 1998, I filed a motion for contempt of court against a member of the school board as a member of the taxpayers group. My motion has been denied because I was not a party to the action. If the taxpayer's group will not follow up this action, can I file a motion to intervene because they are not representing my right as a member of this group?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Contempt of Court
Possibly. Under PA's intervention rules, one of the criteria is whether the intervenor's interests are already adequately being represented. If you make a showing that the group is no longer fulfilling that responsibility, you may be granted standing to intervene in order to seek enforcement of the court's order. Normally I would expect a court to be sympathetic to efforts to enforce its prior orders.
You'd still have to show "standing" as an interested party. Presumably the group had standing based on the interests of its members, but your petition should be carefully written to show that you have interests beyond just being a taxpayer.
The central issue in these situations is not to look like an "officious intermeddler."
William Marvin
Law Offices of William D. Marvin
947 Old York Road
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