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This case presented the question whether a non-party shareholder is entitled to appeal an adverse decision in a shareholders' derivative suit under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23.1 without first having formally intervened as a party in the suit below. The Seventh Circuit held that, just as a classmember must intervene as a party in district court in order to appeal in a class action under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23, so too a shareholder must intervene as a party in district court in order to appeal in a shareholders' derivative action under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23.1. This decision will affect the ability of non-parties to upset corporate decision to dismiss or settle derivative actions.

Certiorari is limited to

Whether a nonparty shareholder who appears, in response to notice provided under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23.1, to present objections to a proposed dismissal or settlement of a derivative action may appeal an adverse decision even though the shareholder has not been formally made a party to the action.

On 1/20/99, the Supreme Court affirmed by an equally divided Court, without opinion.