TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge:
On September 12, 2011, George T. Hawes ("Hawes"), a New York citizen, brought this action against Madison Avenue Media, Inc. ("MAM"), a Delaware corporation based in Boca Raton, Florida.
MAM failed to respond to Hawes's complaint, and on October 11, 2011, Hawes obtained a Clerk's Default.
The District Court granted Gleicher intervention
On March 5, 2012, Hawes moved the District Court for summary judgment. His motion briefly stated that
At the same time, Hawes moved the court to appoint a receiver, without bond, to represent the interest of MAM in the litigation. The motion stated that it was being brought "pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 66." The memorandum Hawes filed in support of the motion stated that "[t]he appointment of a receiver in a civil case is authorized by 28 U.S.C. § 754 and Rule 66 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure." Neither Rule 66
On May 23, 2012, the receiver filed a response to Hawes's motion for summary judgment on behalf of MAM. This response admitted that the Notes and Security Agreements described in the four claims of Hawes's complaint were valid, that the notes were in default, and that Hawes was due the sum of $3,302,783.33.
On July 24, 2012, the District Court granted Hawes's motion for summary judgment finding that the "matter [was] ripe for adjudication" and that there were "no issues of material fact with respect to [Hawes's] claims against MAM." Hawes v. Madison Ave. Media, Inc., No. 11-cv-81025, slip op. at 1, 5 (S.D.Fla. July 24, 2012). The court also noted that "Gleicher [was] not authorized to speak on behalf of MAM," and that he lacked "standing to challenge the Receiver's findings (or Plaintiff's claims, for that matter)." Id. at 5. Following the entry of final judgment for Hawes, Gleicher lodged this appeal. He asks that we vacate the District Court's judgment and remand the case for further proceedings on the grounds that the court erred (1) in refusing to allow discovery before ruling on Hawes's motion for summary judgment; and (2) in concluding that Hawes was entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
Reduced to its bare bones, this case is simple, yet bizarre. We consider first Gleicher's status as a general creditor of MAM. Hawes, a general creditor,
Consider Gleicher's status as a MAM shareholder. Again, Gleicher cites no source — either in common law or in a state statute — giving a corporation's shareholder the right to intervene in a suit brought against the corporation by one of its creditors for the sole purpose of defeating the creditor's claim. It requires no subtle analysis to conclude that a corporation's shareholder possesses no right to intervene in a lawsuit such as the one Hawes brought.
Once this case is stripped to these bare bones the question becomes whether Gleicher has standing to appeal the District Court's final judgment, based on his capacities as a creditor and shareholder.
"Article III of the Constitution confines the reach of federal jurisdiction to `Cases' and `Controversies.'" Alabama-Tombigbee Rivers Coal. v. Norton, 338 F.3d 1244, 1252 (11th Cir.2003) (quoting U.S. Const. art. III, § 2); see also, Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 2136, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992) ("[S]tanding is an essential and unchanging part of the case-or-controversy requirement of Article III."). At an irreducible constitutional minimum, a plaintiff must show an injury-in-fact, a causal connection between the injury and the defendant's conduct, and a likelihood that the injury will be redressed by a favorable decision from the court. Lujan, 504 U.S. at 560, 112 S.Ct. at 2136. "In addition to these three constitutional requirements, the Supreme Court has held that prudential requirements pose additional limitations on standing." Wolff v. Cash 4 Titles,
"The standing Article III requires must be met by persons seeking appellate review, just as it must be met by persons appearing in courts of first instance." Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona, 520 U.S. 43, 64, 117 S.Ct. 1055, 1067, 137 L.Ed.2d 170 (1997). A party's ability "to appeal a trial court judgment is governed by a body of doctrine distinct from that which controls standing to bring suit as a plaintiff, although there is a significant overlap between the two." Knight v. Alabama, 14 F.3d 1534, 1556 (11th Cir. 1994). One aspect of this overlap is "the general rule that a party may not appeal to protect the rights of others." Id. (citation omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted).
Gleicher has not established, nor could he, that he suffered an injury-in-fact as a result of Hawes's filing of this lawsuit. Therefore, he lacked standing to intervene and he lacks standing to appeal the District Court's final judgment. On appeal, he is not asserting his own rights;
SO ORDERED.
Under this rule "a party is entitled to intervention as a matter of right if the party's interest in the subject matter of the litigation is direct, substantial and legally protectable." Mt. Hawley Ins. Co. v. Sandy Lake Props., Inc., 425 F.3d 1308, 1311 (11th Cir.2005) (citation omitted) (internal quotation mark omitted).
12 Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller, & Richard L. Marcus, Federal Practice and Procedure Civil § 2983 (2d ed.1997) (emphasis added) (footnotes omitted).