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Before
Howard, Selya and Lipez,
Circuit Judges.
See, e.g., In re
The lesson
that statement.
I.
BACKGROUND
This appeal has its genesis in the district court's
to
submit
proposed
pleading
with
his
motion
to
The
reader who thirsts for more exegetic detail may consult the litany
of prior opinions in this case. See, e.g., Candelario-Del-Moral v.
UBS Fin. Servs. Inc. (Candelario II), 699 F.3d 93, 95-99 (1st Cir.
-2-
Madeleine
Candelario-Del-Moral,
have
been
engaged
in
-3-
Both parties
06, 107.
We digress for a moment.
against UBS was only one of several cases touching upon the
couple's tangled affairs.
This
mediation.
On
March
4,
2013,
UBS
sent
Efron
an
Although the
Efron
appeals.
II.
ANALYSIS
This
appeal
raises
three
issues,
which
the
parties
First, Candelario
improvidently
Candelario
claims
sanctionable.
denied
that
the
Efron's
motion
to
intervene.
prosecution
of
the
Third,
appeal
is
Appellate Jurisdiction.
See Torres
v. Puerto Rico, 485 F.3d 5, 8 (1st Cir. 2007); see also 28 U.S.C.
1291.
admits of exceptions.
of
contradiction,
holds
that
the
courts
of
appeals
have
That
rule
authorizes
the
district
court
to
allow
Efron's
counters
that
Efron
never
adequately
-6-
she
argues
that
we
lack
Building on this
jurisdiction
to
review
seeking
permissive
intervention
is
freighted
with
argument
rests
is
faulty.
Efron
moved
for
not by some mysterious alchemy transmogrify his motion into one for
permissive intervention.
To sum up, Efron is appealing from the denial of a motion
to intervene as of right.
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B.
The Merits.
approach.
In this context, timeliness involves more than merely
checking off the pages of a calendar.
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conclusion,
the
scrutiny
attached
to
Id. at 7.
request
for
In the end,
stage
to
which
the
intervention is sought."
proceedings
have
progressed
before
Hotelera de P.R., 516 F.2d 1047, 1049 (1st Cir. 1975) (per curiam).
We review the denial of a motion to intervene as of right
for abuse of discretion.
15, 21 (1st Cir. 2008); Int'l Paper Co. v. Inhabs. of Jay, Me., 887
F.2d 338, 344 (1st Cir. 1989). Within this rubric, we evaluate the
district court's legal rulings de novo and its factual findings for
clear error.
Withal, the
is
entitled
to
substantial
deference."
Cadle
Co.
v.
Schlictmann, Conway, Crowley & Hugo, 338 F.3d 19, 21 (1st Cir.
2003); accord NAACP v. New York, 413 U.S. 345, 366 (1973).
In the case at hand, the district court "appl[ied] the
general standard provided by . . . Rule 24(a)(2)."
887 F.2d at 344.
Int'l Paper,
-9-
Id.
We answer that
the Candelario-UBS litigation had been pending for years and was
well-developed by the time that he moved to intervene.
And even
realize that his rights were in jeopardy until March 4, 2013 (when
UBS notified him that it might settle).
This suggestion is disingenuous. A party cannot wilfully
blind himself to facts that are perfectly apparent and then claim
that he lacked knowledge of what those facts plainly portended.
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estimation,
dismissed."
it
Id. at 7.
would
never
go
to
trial,
but
would
be
here.
We have said before, and today reaffirm, that "[p]arties
having knowledge of the pendency of litigation which may affect
their interests sit idle at their peril."
Id.
Settlements are
any
payment
indemnification.
to
Candelario,
UBS
would
look
to
him
for
When he finally
decided to act, the time for action had passed. The district court
found this lengthy delay inexcusable, and so do we.
Of course, the district court also weighed other factors
that might potentially bear on the timeliness inquiry.
For
example, the court considered the harm that might result to Efron
from a denial of his motion to intervene.
would
suffer
no
significant
prejudice
the
denial
of
intervention because any settlement or judgment in the CandelarioUBS litigation would not preclude him either from challenging
Candelario's claims to the marital estate or from raising defenses
against UBS's claims of indemnification.
F.R.D. at 342.
Although the court was correct when it said that a denial
of intervention would not be a bar to Efron's subsequent raising of
defenses, we are skeptical about its conclusion.
would
be
better
off
if
he
could
defend
Efron obviously
directly
against
See R & G
In all events, we
agree with the district court that any prejudice to Efron from the
denial of intervention is outweighed by the prejudice that would
-12-
See id.
cannot
plausibly
be
said
to
constitute
Thus, the
a
special
district court acted well within the ambit of its discretion both
in deeming Efron's motion to intervene untimely and in refusing to
grant it.
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Sanctions.
single
or
double
costs
to
the
appellee"
if
the
court
An
See
Cronin v. Town of Amesbury, 81 F.3d 257, 261 (1st Cir. 1996) (per
curiam).
appellant's
legal
position
is
doomed
to
failure
and
an
Cir. 1991).
By dint of judicial interpretation, the scope of Rule 38
has been enlarged to reach beyond frivolousness simpliciter.
See,
e.g., In re Simply Media, Inc., 583 F.3d 55, 56-57 (1st Cir. 2009)
(per curiam).
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See, e.g.,
Thomas v. Digital Equip. Corp., 880 F.2d 1486, 1491 (1st Cir. 1989)
(imposing Rule 38 sanctions for "blatant misrepresentations in [an]
appellant's brief" (internal quotation mark omitted)).
So, too,
Local Rule 38.0 authorizes sanctions not only for frivolous appeals
but also for vexatious litigation conduct.
To whet our
At the
time that Candelario moved for sanctions, Efron's brief was one
week overdue.
risks dismissal of his appeal, see 1st Cir. R. 45.0, the untimely
filing in this case occasioned only a brief delay.
To impose
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closer question.
Given his protracted delay, Efron's case for intervention
was
manifestly
"frivolous."
weak.
But
"weak"
is
not
synonymous
with
appeal.
CONCLUSION
We need go no further. For the reasons elucidated above,
So Ordered.