Brenda Oates Pickett v. Amoco Oil Company, Plains Investors Corp., Third-Party Clarence Slappey, Applicant for Intervention-Appellant

Brenda Oates Pickett initiated this diversity action against Amoco Oil Company for the wrongful death of her 12-year-old son, Carlus Oates, after he was electrocuted and killed by an improperly grounded propane tank in Plains, Georgia. The boy’s natural father, Clarence Slappey, moved under Rule 24 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to intervene as a plaintiff and share in any recovery even though he never married Ms. Pickett or legitimized Car-lus. The district judge concluded that under Georgia law Slappey had forfeited whatever parental rights he had with respect to Carlus prior to…